It All Started On Holiday...
It was 1992, and I was holidaying in Malta with my family. My birthday was a few weeks away, and my Mum asked me if I'd had any thoughts about what I'd like as a present. We were watching a local cabaret band, and I realised I'd spent the whole time watching the guitarist.
"I'd like an electric guitar, please", I replied.
And that was the start...
The guitar in question was a generic copy of Clapton's infamous 'Blackie'. There was a lot wrong with it, but the upside was I'd take it apart a lot, and thus learn how it was put together. As I learned to play, more guitars passed through my hands, and more tinkering ensued.
In the early years I interacted with a number of guitar techs and luthiers, some good, some bad, and whatever work they carried out, I'd always ask them questions - how else does one learn?
The arrival of the internet changed the game, and work I used to pay others to do I would now do myself. By this point, no guitar was safe, in that I'd be tweaking the set-up, making changes, new circuits, not realising it was all training for eventually making my own guitars.
So when I'm working on a new guitar, I'm bring nearly thirty years of experience to bear, knowing what I would want out of it as a player. I'm also trying more and more to reuse and recycle, both in terms of the guitar and how I package them up; I think it's the responsible way to go, as well as an inevitability for this industry.
I look forward to hearing from you so we can work together in creating your next guitar.
