A couple of the "show us your guitars" threads got me thinking. They have been great, with some lovely stuff on show as much for the personal fondness for these guitars as the rarity or wow factor.
I love USA guitars for the history, iconic imagery and association, as well as the, sometimes hardwired into our consciousness, tones etc. but I thought it might be good to have a thread to highlight the stunning stuff being produced by wonderfully talented individuals and companies closer to home, who right now are potentially struggling to dance with the current regulations and ability to connect with customers and at a larger scale, with the supply chain at the moment.
I originally thought about UK makers, but that seems a bit daft having some great builders within mainland Europe to talk about, so I thought it might be nice to have a thread featuring the work of makers and individuals here in Europe.
I wanted to stick this in the electric area, simply because there will be a whole load of wonderful guitars to be shown, but also ( if it's ok to include acoustic builders ( some of whom do great electrics as well ). My European guitars are all acoustic, at present, so if its okay, I will start the ball rolling with the following
Back left to right ,
Fylde Custom Anniversary ( Euro spruce /braz r/w) light as a feather, rich as can be
Stefan Sobell MS ( Adirondack / Braz r/w ) powerful, unique and still awe inspiring to pick up
H J Williams Esk ( German spruce / Honduras r/w ) like everything Haydn builds, world class.
2nd Forward
Lowden 032 ( spruce / indian r/w ) 20 years old and getting better and better
Lakewood A32 ( Spruce/ indian r/w ) had it since 1997 Like paying a steel string guitar for a classical player.
Please post your guitars. This is not meant to be one of those USA forum threads that basically asks folk to wave the flag but, hopefully a genuine attempt to get exposure for the the wonderful builders closer to home
<a href="
https://imgur.com/mrrkmtw"><img src="
https://i.imgur.com/mrrkmtw.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>
Comments
... Unless I include a Strat Partscaster I built
Ignore the 90s Korean superstrat on the left and the Martin on the right and focus on the single cut in the middle. This is my 'Cuillinburst'. Named after the mountains on Skye (the Burst style 'serial number' on the reverse of the headstock is actually the 6 digit OS grid reference for the summit of Sgurr nan Gillean - probably one of the finest place to stand in the whole of the British Isles). Built by a small builder in East London in 2014 and completely refinished in 2015 by Florian Jager in Oberstdorf, including with a wonderfully dark Brazilian board.
These are really cool. I never had one but I like that the neck isn't as thin as the earlier Hagstrom II/IIIs.
My band, Red For Dissent
On the electrics I wouldn't expect many overseas to be aware of Patrick Eggle or Gordon Smith, who I think are probably the most high profile UK electric builders.
What seem a real shame is that many great builders of both electric and acoustic instruments in the UK are not known about more widely here in the UK. I stand guilty as charged over times when I have lusted over a custom built US instrument, while all along the reality is that there might be a guy working an hour or so away, who could have delivered all that and more.
Fidelity is our very-own highly underrated "British Novo" - with arguably even more unique designs. But he loves roasted woods, distressed finishes and all the toanz... he uses Mojo pickups and top-class hardware in these things, which are also chambered. You can get a hand-built guitar from this guy for £899 which is crazy considering how good they are.
JPG 'Bob' - made in York
Josh Parkin, now based in York (but he cut his teeth in Japan), can do just about anything you like, but he builds a very under-the-radar series of takes on the Harmony Bobkat. This one is 'Bob' - the "vintage" spec version - all-poplar (but for the rosewood fretboard and ebony bridge), genuine vintage 1963 DeArmond gold foils and an absolute Boaty McBoatface of a neck. He also makes 'Kat', a modern-spec take on same with a smaller neck & more traditional woods and now also 'Big Kat', a humbucker-laden larger-bodied offset inspired by the Bobkat but also evolved into something more aggressive!