DUTCH COURAGE

In a world filled with corporate PR, it’s a breath of fresh air to talk to a guitar maker who is as open and frank as he is skilled at building superlative electrics. Netherlands-based luthier Eric Smid is the man behind Smitty Guitars, and his approach to making instruments is refreshingly pragmatic. An avowed enemy of snake oil in all its forms, Eric selects his tonewoods and hardware based on the evidence of his ears and eyes rather than forum folklore. The result is a series of original electrics and subtly tweaked classics that are a dream to play, sound exceptional and which have an understated beauty all of their own.

We join Eric to talk about his no-nonsense approach to building guitars and gain an insight into the design evolution behind his debut electric, the Model 1, which is today just one of many thoroughbreds in the Smitty stable.

What was your route into lutherie?

“I have played guitar since I was 12 years old, but I started tinkering with guitars when I first bought my first real guitar, which was a Fender Telecaster, in 1979. Later on, I discovered it was one of the worst production years of Fender, lots