Croft Customs

Summary

Croft Customs was founded in 2021 and is the work of Luthier Jonathan Croft.

My History

My career stated in Engineering. I did an apprenticeship straight after leaving school at 16 at a local Engineering Manufacturing company near Portsmouth U.K. I worked in EDM Wire Erosion, CNC 5 Axis machining, CNC Turning, assembly and tool making. After my apprenticeship, graduated from Southdowns College with HND in Mechanical Engineering.

My First Guitar

I made my first guitar at the age of 18 for a engineering project whilst at college. I had no knowledge on how to build a guitar, apart from playing one for a number of years. I watched many videos on Youtube and read many books. I made a Dreadnought style guitar with 5 Axis CNC machined neck. I would have carved the neck by hand but due to it being an engineering project, i had to implement some sort of CNC in there. Once presentation day came, I was the proudest person in the room. I found the experience very stressful and incredibly rewarding. Along with my 50 page report, I got a Distinction Grade.

My Second Guitar (The Real Deal)

Due to many years of studying and progressing in my career as an Engineer, I didn't make my next guitar until I was 24 years old in 2019 for a surprise gift for my brothers 21st birthday. I converted a garage by my mums shop into a workshop and worked in hiding, building my brothers guitar.

This guitar took me a lot longer than the first as I was focusing more on the quality of the sound and the form of the guitar. I also found out how expensive this hobby would be as I had to use my own tools and invest in the specialised tools to build guitars. It ended up being the most expensive gift I had ever given, but boy was it worth it. The look on my brothers face as I gave him his very own guitar built by myself is a memory that I will never forget.

I knew then, that this is something I had to do.

Starting a Business

(Description in Progress)