DREAMS OF GOLD

Over my many years of writing about and criticising guitars, occasionally I’ve also been involved in designing a guitar from the ground up. It’s all very well swapping some hardware or coming up with your own wiring system but designing the whole thing – where you’re in the driving seat – is a different matter. Some of you may have been lucky enough to spec out your own custom-shop guitar, or take your idea to a guitar maker. But that’s a very personal choice. What if you had to design a guitar that would be for sale and the whole world would be your judge?

I’m sure many of you will remember the furore surrounding PRS’s Silver Sky design. It seemed like the whole world had an opinion, initially based on just a photograph and a spec list. Today, your design may well be judged on that alone. I recently saw a thread about a new design by a well-established boutique maker. A simple picture caused a raft of negatives: “That’s ugly”; “Anyone could do better.” As I write I’m looking at that very guitar. Having spent a lot of hours with it and recorded a near album’s worth of song demos with it, I think it’s one of the most creative-sounding, beautifully made instruments I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. What do I know?

China Calling

Back in 2007 I somehow got involved in a project to design a guitar with Trev Wilkinson for the JHS-owned Vintage Advance range. The idea was that