The idea
I’m Tom Lamont, I've been playing guitar in bands since 2002, I also run my own design company. I’ve learnt what it means to have a reliable guitar, the importance of good communication and what makes a quality instrument that you want to play and is fun to play.
I prefer non-standard, I always choose to customise to ensure I get what I want, the look and sound I need, and a guitar I will always want to play and that will stand out from the rest.
I've fixed up & built many guitars. My This Is Pod and Burntaxe Co-founder, Michelle Mealor, loves startups. Together, we decided to combine our start-up energy, our design skills, and my guitar building expertise to launch Burntaxe. We're about bringing fun and art back into music.
We want to give musicians access to totally custom guitars, give you the chance to brand your guitars with your band artwork or just something awesome.
BEFORE AND AFTER
More services & new techniques
We love talking guitars and etching, we want to help you create your perfect tone blending the infinite range of guitars, amps, pedals, leads, pics, mics and DIY recording techniques without breaking the bank.
I've always fixed, tweaked, upgraded, improved, tightened and customised all of my guitars. Since doing these processes many, many times I’ve designed new ways to wire up electronics and, importantly, better ways to ground guitars. It’s a process that should be done to all guitars but isn't by any mainstream brands.
Grounding a guitar our way is aimed at music extremists, who love nothing more than outrageous levels of gain and volume. A properly grounded guitar will allow the player to control feedback, peaks and squeals. Get loose and make it sing buddy!
Guitar set up
We give advice on setting up guitars. It's not just a new set of strings, but we'll be blogging about how replace strings, how to set them properly for gigs, adjust intonation and the importance of string gauges vs neck relief.
We cover everything from attaching scratch plates, to setting a neck for maximum tone and connection between neck and body. How to adjust a neck, pinning the relief exactly to the tension and gauge of the strings for perfect liquid action. We also check out intonation for perfect pitch all over the fret board.
Fret re-crowning, pot and output replacements, upgrading pick ups, strap locks, top nut adjustment for larger string gauges, guitar / speaker lead repair and upgrading grounding. The list of services is endless. We want to do the heavy lifting so you can relax and focus on your performance not that crackle from the rusty output or sketchy lead you never got fixed. Pretty much, if your guitar has an issue, we can sort it out.
Guitar Innovation
New thinking about guitars and guitar parts has always been a passion of mine. In 2013 I ordered the first Dillinger Escape Plan Ben Weinman signature LTD Xtone in England, it features the awesome Evertune bridge. Once you set-up the Evertune bridge to your string gauge and tunings, you don’t need to tune it again. It’s insane how much time you can spend tuning a guitar, the freedom of having to not worry about going out of tune at rehearsals and gigs is simply awesome. I highly recommend them. This guitar has many other rad features, which I’d love to discuss over a beer.
First full guitar build
I had ten years of soldering and wiring up my guitars in my shed before I got the opportunity to build a guitar from scratch. In 2011, I first had access to a fully loaded workshop. I learnt how to work with tonal woods, use routers, band saws, how to properly sand and use wood stains to get the look I wanted, but I still wasn't completely happy. The seeds of Burntaxe had been planted as I thought about guitars in a different light. How could I improve performance, feel and tone? I gigged this guitar for years and it's still one of my favourite axes
Fun times
My bands have always been a hobby, something fun to do with friends. Music should be fun. Building sweet guitars should be fun. However, building guitars isn’t just a hobby of mine, it’s a way I make my guitar playing life easier. Our aims at Burntaxe are to build better, simpler, properly set up guitars that will hold up to the test of time, and play and sound gnarly. Custom, not corporate, sounds.
Our axes are designed to be played, the video below is me playing BURNTAXE 2 with DKH at the Black Heart in London.
DKH Pedals Pedals Pedals
Wanna pick up your pedal game?
Designing a guitar for the player
Most guitarists have a few guitars lying around not doing anything, maybe that sweet tele you have has a weird buzz from the 12th fret so you don't play it anymore. Don't leave it alone, unloved and unworked. We could totally fix it up, etch it up and make it play, look and feel better then ever. While we have your guitar in bits, how about upgrading the pick-ups, making the grounding better or setting up to have the heavier gauge string set you’re playing these days?
Being a start-up
Starting our own design business, building client relationships, working with people so everyone involved knows what is happening next. Burntaxe is an extension of our This is Pod User Experience process.
