Inaugural Woking Boutique Guitar Show Highlights from Fiery Bird
Maybury Guitars - Jason
So here are the highlights from the very first Woking Boutique Guitar Show - which took place this past Saturday at the Fiery Bird venue - just 5 minutes walk from the train station / town centre.
The show was organised by my good friend Jason Snelling of Maybury Guitars, alongside John Smith of JAS Guitars. The venue was perfectly centrally located, and was spacious - with a lot of natural light - which did make some of the photography somewhat tricky - due to a differing lighting contrast throughout - meaning a few of those photos had to be be somewhat edited for the personalities to be sufficiently clearly distinguishable.
Generally I really liked the venue - and they had a small concession offering most every non-alcoholic drink, alongside hot dogs and popcorn and a few other handy snacks. The town centre is so easy to get to from the venue - there’s no Prêt a Manger alas - so I ended up in a Caffè Nero for lunch - where I was mostly seeking out a place with sandwiches / toasties / grilled panini - so Nero really hit the the spot for me.
There were 21 brands overall in attendance - everyone showed up bar Lazy J Amps (nominative determinism #1) - who could not make it on this occasion. I had a really great day out - albeit it was quite work-intensive for me to get around every stand and to speak to everyone - I had a number of in-depth conversations with several of the exhibitors and managed to have a decent dialogue with everyone present. For a lot of the brands - this was their very first show - so really nice to see them on the circuit. I really enjoyed the day - and will definitely be back for the next one of these. A lot of the brands here were new to me - and all here were proper grass-roots innovators - some really great musical devices and accessories on display!
Topline stats :
21 x Total Brands
11 x Electric Guitar Makers
5 x Acoustic Guitars and Ukelele Makers
2 x Pedal Brands
2 x Pickup Brands
2 x Accessories Brands
1 x Amp Maker
Maybury’s Jason had his 2 ’Guitarist’ reviewed masterpieces present once more - including of course the beautiful Cholla model he is holding. He also had new colourways for his chalk-paint finished reclaimed-wood Upscaler series - including a fetching new Green and Copper colourway.
The Upscaler Series starts at £1,250, while the more specialist and more detailed guitars - like the Cholla - range from circa £2.500 to £3,500 - all incredible looking guitars of the finest quality. Other Maybury guitar models include the Fish Hook and Saguaro Double Cut. Jason also has some really cool Bass guitars for sale!
JAS Guitars - John
JAS Guitars' John Smith was the Co-Host for the show - and obviously he and Jason had the prime locations in the room! John had a a good mix of electric and acoustic guitars with him - where his T-Types really stood out, In particular the one he's holding - which has a super attractive price of just £1,500, and rare exotic woods on pretty much every surface - including a beautifully figured fretboard - everything about that guitar - the burled facia, the hardware details - it was such a striking design.
If I had £1,500 going spare - I cold not have thought of a better cause at that moment - I was quite taken by it! In fact a little surprised that no one seemed to have claimed it on the day. I very much look forward to running into John at the forthcoming shows to see how many more of these masterpieces he has up his sleeve. I don't yet own a T-Type - where this pictured one would make my perfect first representative for that category!
Thank you also to John's backup / sidekick Tony - with whom I had a fun extended dialogue!
Fredric Effects - Tim
This collaboration has been on the cards for so long now. Tim is the one I've bumped into most on the show circuit - these past 5 or 6 years - and the intention has always been to get stuck into that range. As always the opening gambit needs the right timing and for both parties to be fully content with whatever deal is struck. And such indeed happened at the Woking Show - where the collaboration was finally agreed, and I came away with a Standrard Fuzz Machine, Deeply Unpleasant Companion MKII, and the Silicon Harmonic Percolator - which also happen to be Tim's 3 latest pedals.
We jointly decreed that the Silicon Harmonic Percolator should be the featured pedal for the show - and indeed that was the model that sold out. Some of these fuzzes are still needing a demo video or two - where I will be featuring and reviewing each of those 3 over the next week or two!
Tim is notably soon to depart for the Poland Guitar Fest show in Cracow - this coming weekend, where I'm Media Partner for the London Synth and Pedal Expo at Hackney Wick - which takes place over the same weekend, Tim is very brave to be driving the whole way with his daughter in tow - which surely makes the long journeytaht much more bearable. I already have long-running commitments with the London Synth & Pedal Expo - where that has to be my priority obviously! I may very well accompany Tim to one one of these continental shows some day - as long as they don't clash with my other commitments.
In any case it's great to be on the Fredric Effects trail at last - and building up that part of the reference collection, I have several more of those on my target / wish list - so there should be a slew of Fredric Effects features coming onto GuitarPedalX.com. Just a handful of those now have still to be moved over to the new wedge enclosures. Where some of the larger pedal editions will be shrunk down to use the same enclosure format as the Standard Fuzz Machine!
Hello Sailor Effects - Joe
There were only 2 pedal brands at the show - and me being a pedal specialist - I possibly spent a slighlty disproportionate amount of time with them - especially considering I had seen them both quite recently - at the Birmingham (Shirley) Cranmore Park Show.
Joe had just a few new pedals with him since Birmingham - with a little carryover too - he had had a blistering time of it at the Brum Show - where he sold quite a number of his pedals. For this one there was literally just a handful of new ones - which normally I would expect to sell through pretty fast - while I'm not sure Woking was really a big selling show on the day per se - it will get there for sure.
I already own the vast majority of Joe's pedal types - the only one I'm still lacking really is one of his top-notch Rangemasters - which I would really like in Princes Leia Rebel Rebel Livery - while there has also been talk of having one of the butterfly varieties. Moreover Joe needs to role out a new circuit or two - to keep me busy!
The new pedals Joe brought with him to the show included the two on the far right of the top shelf - the yellow one in the back is an Astro Tone Fuzz - which features in Joe's forthcoming YouTube video. And in front of that is the one that we expected to sell the fastest - a taupe tolex Abbey Road Fuzz with rare glass bulb Mullard germanium transistors.
Then second from left on the second shelf down is the floral / peach SeaWolf Compact Delay like mine - which I'm pushing really hard at the moment - I'm surprised no one has snapped that one up yet - it really sounds superb - and was in heavy rotation on the day - I guess too many of hose auditioners had mothballs in their ears!
The one that ended up selling the fasted turned out to be the green KOT clone - which is 2nd from the left on the 3rd shelf down!
I'm a huge fan also of the two pedals covered in the pink floral silk - reclaimed from a Kimono Joe acquired while on a tour in Japan a couple or so years ago - he's managed to get around 10 pedals out of that one piece of Kimono silk fabric!
I'm due to do an onsite visit to Joe's workshop - sometime in April - so no doubt there will be be further adventures in and around that!
Daniels Guitars - Darren
There seemed to be something very familiar about Darren's largely Gibson inspired and refined guitars - when I encountered them on his stand. Turns out I featured one of his Gold Tops back in a 2019 'Gibson Not Gibson' feature. So I've evidently lusted after those guitars for a while.
Darren showcased an immaculate Black Beauty Les Paul type with extraordinary fit and finish - every thing was incredibly refined - with the binding running totally flush even into the neck joint - which was immaculate. Darren's flagship guitar are usually around £4,000, where his range as such starts from £3.000 and peaks typically in the neighbourhood of £5,000-£6,000.
My favourite guitar at the stand was actually a stunningly pretty Gold Top - which left-handed version belonged to Lewis Trower (LT Custom Guitars) - and what a lucky chap he is - as that's probably the most stunning Gold Top I've seen,
The Nitroceullulose painting is perfectly cold-cracked in fine horizontal lines which look like they've been precision carved with a razor blade - while this is just a natural reaction of that particular paint under specific conditions - where it interacts with the grain of the wood. The Luthier cannot really control the impact or coverage of those hairline cracks - which on Lewis Trower's particular guitar are uniquely stunning. If I were to commission such a guitar there is no guarantee that the nitro cracks would be as beautifully distributed and precise - as on Lewis's guitar!
There was a another cool Purple Top Les Paul in the display - and while the Black Beauty was particularlyy stunning of its own accord - it did not hit me quite as hard as that magnificent gold top - which you can see in part just to the left of Darren in the above photo!
Here above is the other Daniels Gold Top from my 2019 article / feature - I believe that gold top did not exhibit the same fine striations that we saw on Lewis's guitar - in fact the other Gold Top looks pretty smooth all-round!
I'm generally very fussy about the hue of gold that I like - and Darren gets it spot on for my preferences here!
Darren was looking to further spread his wings abroad. He already has a couple of appointments in the USA for representation in that land, and he's seeking continental representation too - somewhere relatively central - so most likely Netherlands or Germany, He is looking for high quality Boutique Guitar shops whose profiles and products already reflect the same high quality as Daniels Guitars. If anyone reading this knows of a suitable boutique - please can they let either me or Darren know!
FKLN Franklyn Guitars - Chris
To my eyes Chris leans rather more into Fender style shapes - in particular S-Type and Offset varieties.
He was showcasing one of his gorgeous Skybeam Superstrat variants in gorgeous Ford Focus Tangering Scream Metallic Orange colouway. A beautifull distinct sort of bevel like edge enhances the shape of that guitar. And I actually really like the streamilined headstock design - which looks very elegant. I think the one pictured was around £2,500 or so. Most of the guitars on offer at the show were in the magnitude of £2,000 to £3,000. With a handful around £3,500, and just a few at £4,000 and above.
There were some very elegantly craved guitars at the stand - all beautifully worked and with a high attention to detail.
The other guitar that caught my eyes was the the somewhat diminutive Superstrat with single, but coil-splittable pickup. Chris had primarily built that one as a show-stopper. It was not developed as a child's first guitar - for which I feel it would be great too!
I really wish I had the £800 spare to pick of that Dinky mode, which looked really gorgeous - and had a really smart feature set. I can't really put my finger on it - but I really somehow want that small guitar. In fact small guitars were kind of the order of the day as we shall see!
My mind is so focused on pedal acquisitions - which I of course need to feed this world-renowned blog - that said obsession almost always gets in the way - as I equate every purchase to a median pedal value - such that £800 is the equivalent of 4 pedals, which is around 20 percent of my monthly target quota!
JC Guitar Company - Jack
Jack mostly showcased 2 of his leading models for me - a very custom 7-string fan-fret offset Neo model with expansive resin inlay work to the fretboard, and use of gorgeous figured woods. The 'Neo' is entirely Jack's own design, and there was another 6-string edition of that at the show - which spent most of its time in one of the side / break-out demo-rooms. Hopefully someone snapped that one up!
Jack's guiltar which appealed to me the most was the second from right T-Type with figured wood, and vintage / aged brass hardware - in somewhat muted shades - perfectly matching the wooden hues deployed on said guitar. That one and John Smith's T-Type already mentioned occupied a very similar space in my mind - both were totally stunning, and perfect canditaes for my first T-Type. I personally have alaways tended to lean rather more into S-Types - but I really loved those 2 T-Types I saw at the show in particular.
I believe the custom 7-String Neo was of the magnitude of around £3,500, with the T-Type somewhat just south of £3,000.
RD Amplification - Rob
I had a really decent chat with Rob - mostly about the 3 amp types and speaker Rob was showcasing on his stand. Rob almost entirely builds his amps to order - so he's ever fortunate to have something he can showcase at each of those guitar shows.
Going left-to-right we have the Single Channel Dualist XL, then the updated Dual Channel Dualist in the centre - which also has Reverb onboard. Those Dualist amps are quite heavily inspired by the Dumble ODS - so right up my street therefore. The Single Channel version has slightly more gain - with the Dual Channel one being more versatile obviously.
The Combo amp is the Clean Channel 8-Ball - which I believe was on offer at the show. It's normally priced @ £1,800 I believe - with the Single Channel Dualist XL @ circa £2,300, and the Dual Channel Dualist @ around £2,800.
And last but not least Rob had 2 remaining original Pulsonic 60 Speakers from his first made-up batch - those were going for around £360 each. The speaker cones feature a very special slightly thinner membrane which delivers more clarity and responsiveness. Rob has just over 30 of those rare speaker cones remaining - so those speaker types are definitely on the endangered list now - they have a very special response curve!
Generally I was super impressed by the build quality of those amps - and I particularly liked the snakeskin tolex look!
Rob has a lot of tolex offcuts - which I suggested he should use for tiny RD Amp-like boxes that can stash all manner of guitar paraphernalia - including of course guitar picks and circuit components - or backup valves even!
LT Custom Guitars - Lewis
It turns out that Lewis was the best networked / connected person at the show - he knew near enough everyone, and had collaborated with most of them already - including Pickup Maker OGEE. Also it was his gorgeous Gold Top that was sat on the Daniels Guitars stand - the prettiest one I've ever seen!
I know Lewis through his connection with Jonny Brelliott - and his several YouTube videos featuring Jonny's TODP pedal (which I recently reviewed) - which also featured on his show pedalboard. I need to nudge Jonny to send Lewis the updated modular version - as Lewis has been the best ambassador for that pedal to date!
Lewis leans somewhat into Fender shapes - with his Privateer T-Type kind of being his flagship mode. As he's left-handed - he makes a fair variety of those southpaw style guitars - including the one that he's holding above - in beautiful figured blue. Those Privateers start from around £2,750 - where you can buy those through a really smart system of instalments.
I was a little too distracted at the time by the TODP on Lewis's pedalboard - as that was our most common shared experience and talking point - he's obviously a luthier with a great ear for tone! Also on his stand he had a personal RD Dualist amp - from his show neighbour! Lewis obviously likes to mix it up with the best of them! And is a fantastic ambassador and advocate for that industry / sector!
ToneWolf Guitars - Steve
Steve makes some really interesting hybrid guitars - which take on the best of Fender and Gibson - all on the one single instrument. His Theta Model is the most obvious example of that - as it combines Gibson's Explorer and Firebird designs - with the playing dynamics of Fender's Telecaster. You can clearly see all the different influences in the design of that marvellous instrument.
The featured guitar is the new Delta Model - obviously inspired by the Les Paul Custom / Special - with some signature ToneWolf touches to the carve.
I can't quite recall the pricing of the new Delta Model, while the Theta one mentioned starts from £2,300. I think the Delta will be similar - definitely above the £2,000 mark, The most affordable ToneWolf guitar is the Cub Model - which starts from £1,900.
I love seeing Luthiers plough their own furrow as such - and Steve's ToneWolf is definitely doing something rather interesting and distinct!
Morsola Relic Guitars of Hereford - Joel
Hello Sailor Effects' neighbour at the Show - Joel's Morsola Guitars does an interesting line in smartly relic'd guitars - that is his specialism. Joe was already somewhat smitten by the heavily relic'd fiesta red Strat at the back of the stand.
Joel himself as pictured - was showcasing his '67 Maple Neck Custom T-Type with not quite so heavy relic'ing as the fiesta red one in the back. I can'd recall the exact pricing, but I think most of Joel's guitars are in the £2,000+ range.
A little like tattoos - I don't mined them on other people - but would not necessarily like them for myself, I mostly feel the same about relic'd guitars - but then I come across a really tastefully relic'd guitar which I kind of like. Joel obviously has a deft touch for this process. While individual guitarists have different thresholds and ceilings for what level of relic'ing they tolerate - and mine just happens to be on the lower side!
Of course I never say never - if something looks and feels right - then it simply has to be!
Alchemy Pickups - Jack & Clara
This was the first Guitar Show for Jack and Clara as far as I'm aware, and they were both kind of finding their feet as such. I encouraged them to make use of the downtime to go and network with their fellow luthiers at the show - as that is somewhat of a captive market for them - and those collaborations can prove to be very lucrative for pickup makers.
The pickup game hasn't changed a lot in the intervening years - apart from say the Fishman Fluence and Lace Sensor I guess. Pickups are still mostly a case of high or low output, what kind of magnet and pole pieces are deployed - fixed or flexible, how many winds, what kind of cover material - and whether the winds are wax-potted for reduced microphonics, With the more conventional area of this industry it's always been fairly difficult to distinguish yourself from the chasing pack - where one of the easiest ways for that is in the aesthetic department. I would encourage Alchemy to work with master engraver Richard Legg over at Indra Custom Guitars - who was just the other side of the partition.
At the show Jack was showcasing his brand new and admittedly very distinctive looking Hartshorn Humbucker - with those very distinctive over-sized pole pieces - and with a 17.5k output. I can't recall the price - while Alchemy's dearest pickups seem to be around the £125-£130 mark so I would imagine not too far removed from that.
I feel Alchemy will need to do more along the lines of the Hartshorn - in order to carve out a memorable marketing position for itself. Bareknuckle seems to be very focused of late on ornate looking pickups - and we see a great number of pickups nowadays with custom looks and engraving!
Actually Alchemy are already in collaboration with a number of the guitar brands at the show - including LT Custom and FKLN Franklyn Guitars who sport those pickups already!
Lost Soul Leather - Krystian
Leather specialist Krystian has carved out a solid reputation with his line of guitar straps in particular - which range from £100 to £200 - and which count Jack Bauer / Kiefer Sutherland as key endorsees. Kiefer has one of the deluxe straps in nearly every colourway,
You pay for the degree of hand-son work and the quality of the materials, and the top-of-the range Deluxe straps (£200) are beautifully finished with a single thread border stitch - which has a single neat junction point where the thread circles around and joins up - and even that is then concealed by the buckle for the tidiest of finishes. The leather is UK-originated and sourced, and the thread is a kind of corrosion-proof colourfast ballistic nylon which is guaranteed for a lifetime of sweaty usage. Those straps are very refined and robust indeed!
This is the second time I've encountered Krystian on the circuit - I also met him at the very first Alternative Guitar Show a year or two ago - tempus fugit!
A recent addition to the range is a wireless pack holster which seamlessly and securely loops onto one of those straps - those go for £99. These leather accessories of course come in a wide range of colours and combinations - so there should be something for everyone here. All of these products are entirely hand-made from start to finish - which is reflected in the pricing. These are incredibly high quality products - designed for a lifetime of use!
Alegree Guitars and Accessories - Alex & Maria
As Alex explained it to me - Alegree is very much a one-stop Guitar Gear and Accessories Warehouse - where on the stand they featured Ernie Ball, Rotosound and Stringjoy Srings. Also Dunlop Capo's and Picks, Studioflex Cables and other bits and bobs.
The website has a whole lot more - including guitar parts and pickups - even the guitars themselves - from Godin, Shergold, and Vintage brands for instance. And even pedals from Mooer and Nux. They're kind of a Costco Guitar Gear Warehouse Operation - with a vast catalogue of products, And while the range of coverage is pretty wide, it's not always across all the essential brands. For instance they don't have my favourite strings - which tend to be D'Addario NYXL's
Regardless, it's a very impressive operation - with a great number of SKU's - they kind of cater to all - but not across all the in-deemand brands necessarily. Certainly an impressive operation with plenty to get stuck into,
Indra Custom Guitars & Engraving - Richard
I had quite the chat with Richard - for whom this was his first show, His dutiful girlfriend and dog - sat across the aisle for the whole show - I think the dog was a greyhound, while I'm often confused between Whippets and Greyhounds so I could not be sure! Both girlfriend and dog were impeccably behaved, and impeccably patient throughout the day!
I admonished Richard for his lack of prominent branding on the stand - as I initially struggled to figure out whose stand it was. The display, using a picnic blanket as a backdrop was very elegantly laid out, as were Richard's two prototype bass guitars with gilded fretboards and beautifully detailed fixtures and fittings - those looked really cool and distinct. And on the table were all manner of intricately engraved / etched pickguards and neck heel plates - some with a really cool colour backwash. I earlier recommended that Alchemy Pickups collaborate with Richard - as so many pickups these days are intricately engraved. I also noted yesterday from a Steve Dennis (FX Pedal Planet) social media post that Richard had made some Scratch Plates for commemorative guitars for Steve's parents - one each for his Mum & Dad - so there's yet another connection there. There is so much inter-connectivety between people working within this profession - and most everyone gets on so very well.
Much like I encouraged Jack at Alchemy to network with all his fellow luthiers at the show - I would say the same to Richard - in fact I think he'd already worked with a couple. Every guitar brand could do with some cool engraved facia / scratch guard plates at the very least on an occasional basis.
Richard''s work is incredibly detailed and creative - and I encouraged him to evolve a signature ident that he could incorporate into all his engravings as a subtle but obviously connected symbol!
I love seeing fledging brands finding their feet and evolving forwards. It's so much fun to follow their journeys and observe how they become more and more sophisticated with time. Engraved / Etched pickguards - seem to range from circa £60-£100. The website is a little weird though - as you only see the prices after you've added them to the cart - and lots of people are unlikely to hit the Add to Cart button if they don't know the prices!
In terms of quality of output - this is universally very high - with some gorgeous designs on offer and lots of room for custom commissions - like Steve Dennis's!
81 Guitar Works - Simon
Simon is very evidently an offset specialist - with all his models having a distinct offset quality to their shape and geometry, My favourite model of his is the one he is showcasing in the above photo - a BS2 type as far as I'm aware. I love near enough everything about the model he is holding - and the two P90's right next to each other allow for some really cool wiring options / possibilities.
The only thing I've yet to make my mind up about is the headstock shape / design - I tend to be very sensitive about the shape of those - and typically seek out inverted trapezoidal shapes - where I've always felt that PRS and MusicMan guitars have the best headlock and string-drop ergonomics overall,.The 81 headstocks pose some challenges for my sensibilities on the aesthetics and ergonomics side of things - while I don't overly dislike them - there's just some niggling comfort factor thing impacting my sensibilities! Everything else on that guitar is pretty much gorgeous - it's just that final obstacle that I've still to overcome!
81 guitars range from circa £2,200 to near enough £3,000, There's no questioning the quality of manufacture or output - it's really just the headstock shape that is somehow bothering me a little - but it's not really that a big a deal - and it's surely something I will move past in due time, I quite like the LO Model too!
OGEE Pickups - Ollie and sidekick
Interestingly the thing that I was most blown away by on the OGEE stand was the quality of the packaging! Those carved and engraved rounded black wooden boxes looked amazing - part of me just wanted one of those boxes - I wasn't particularly in the market for pickups at the time - but I would have happily paid £20 for one of those slick wooden boxes!
Interesting also that at the show Ollie had definitive sets of pickups - e.g. twin Tele Sets and and triple Single Coil Sets - while the website only sells the pickups individually - they range from £88 to £130 - each - which is very similar to the Alchemy Pickups. The obvious differentiator is in the quality of the packaging here. Also OGEE already collaborate with a number of the luthiers at the show - including especially their neighbour John Smith of JAS Guitars - where several of his guitars feature OGEE pickups.
Ollie is fortunate to be working also for James Collins Guitars as a full-time Luthier - which provides him with a captive market for his pickups - as James's guitars, much like John Smith's - feature pickups from OGEE too.
At the show Ollie was showcasing a very unique HSS Set - with the Single Coils using Alnico 4 Magnets I think he said, and the Humbucker using Alnico 2 - I think hat was the correct sequence. Basically the opposite of what the convention normally dictates. I guess the point in that was emphasising that Ollie does a lot of work with Custom pickups - and I kind of understand that would be the case if you worked with a number of different Luthiers - I would imagine each of those would want their own unique stamp on it as such.
So OGEE have a few trump cards up their sleeve - including that effortlessly cool packaging. Even now I really want one of those boxes. Ollie should bring a job lot of those to the next show - I think he would easily shift whatever quantity he chooses to bring with him - especially if the pricing was around £20 or so. It would be a great promotion for the brand too - and keep them front and centre in the minds of their prospective customers!
Tewin Ukeleles - Terry
It was great making first contact with woodworker Terry Brand who is so enthusiastic about the Ukuleles that he initially made from just a hobbyist perspective. He has evolved to a fully-fledged Ukulele specialistst and who now builds a variety of shapes and sizes - and in different woods - starting from just £275, and mostly ranging within the £275-£350 spread. These are incredibly high quality and individual guitars - impeccably constructed.
I tent to favour the single cutaway acoustics - particularly the ones with a somewhat sharper point to those cutaways. Those shapes are more complicated to achieve, and invariably the costs are higher. I actually really rather like diminutive guitars like Ukuleles and already have a Kala Electric Ukulele Bass in the collection.
I could easily see myself picking up one of Terrys Ukeles at a future show! I also tend to favour the darker wood examples!
DJW Guitars - David and sidekick
David Woodcock (nominative determinism #2) seems to have been destined to work wood and craft fine acoustic instruments from the start. He leans somewhat towards the classic side of things, while those very classic shapes are very slightly adapted to his own sensibilities. They all look very classic and timeless in their elegance. Where I always prefer a cutaway shape - and his Dreadnought is closest to my preferences - I don't really like the shape of the other two Cutaway types he offers - the Dreadnought is the most elegant of those for me.
David makes much of his traditional methods and processes - where these guitars are fully handmade from start to finish - over a span of around 200 hours, and typically ranged across 9 months. So if you're making a commission you're best of factoring in a good year to cover the whole journey.
The nature of how these are crafted makes for a pricey process, I think David said prices start from around £4,000 and go up from there depending on the shape and detail you have selected, use of fine and rare woods, inlay work etc, all of that can add up considerably when commissioning a bespoke guitar.
As I mentioned previously - I quite like the dark coloured acoustics - either in dark brown or black wood even - I guess in common with some of the Gibson ones that have been made.
These are all very elegant instruments - leaning towards the classic as mentioned.
Apologies to David's sidekick - with whom I conversed at length - I can't recall whether he said his name was Neil or Nick - it was definitey something short and single syllable beginning with 'N'!
D.G. Lukes Luthier - Daniel & Amy
Daniel had just one complete guitar on his stand which I think was GA #11 - a gorgeous cutaway slightly modern leaning guitar design - but with an insane level of attention to detail throughout. Daniel hand-crafts every part here - down to his unique hardwood bridge pins. There are so many interesting details here - including Rothko style inlays - these guitars are so exquisitely made. And that cutaway curve is a 3D marvel in how it subtly curves and buckles so organically within the flow of the wood.
Daniel prides himself of being entirely homegrown - and so is his selection of woods - often featuring the more unusual Linden and Laburnum British varieties in his constructions. Every aspect of this guitar is wholly British from start to finish.
I can't recall what price was mentioned here, but these are surely in a similar magnitude to those instruments built by DJW Guitars - which start from £4,000. This GA for sure looks like a £4,000+ instrument. And Daniel has crafted a most beautifully distinctive design. I'm not particularly an acoustic guitar type - but this guitar is everyway gorgeous. I really love every tiny detail on this instrument, and I wholly understand how long Daniel might have laboured to perfect such a shape - this was one of the standout guitars at the show for me.
The most obvious signature design detail - apart from that marvellous unique cutaway scoop / 'dent' - is the Fox Head Heel design - which is present on every one of Daniel's guitars.
This brought to my mind the Jackal-headed Egyptian God Anubis - as the shape of the carve was quite similar to what the Egyptians used to do - so it's a Fox / Jackal for me.
It's really mostly just a special signature detail which fully signifies just how much thought has gone into the design and construction of this guitar. This is that one extra step that elevates these guitars above most everything else that is out there in a similar category - certainly from a memorable aesthetic standpoint.
Surely these instruments sounds as glorious as they look - anything less would be an injustice!
Fiodhan Musical Instruments - David & Dad
Fiodhan is usually twin brothers David & Steward McKenzie - while Mckenzie Senior was subbing for his other son at the show - you see so many family pairings at these shows - I love seeing different generations working together. Hello Sailor Effects Joe is normally accompanied by his father-in-law Glyn for most of those shows - this was a rare exception. And I often see Dan Goldberg of Buzzing Bugs Audio - being accompanied by his Dad too - it really warms the soul! Doug Tolley, UK Chase Bliss Ambassador often brings his son to the shows - so you occasionally have a bridge across 3 generations - with sons, fathers and grandfathers all being present at the same time!
In any case Fiodhan were on the far side of the hall and at the end of that sequence. Last in the lineup as such, but far from the least. In fact this stand was very much one of my highlights for the show - I loved seeing those diminutive classic electric guitar inspired Ukulele style 4-String types - across mini Tele, Strat and FujiGen PP Electric styles - also including one of the show's absolute show-stoppers - a take on Brian May's Red Special. Most of the mini electrics were priced @ £300, with the Red Special Uke @ £350, and some of the other larger guitars extending beyond £400 - with a likely top price of £500 or so.
I really liked the Red FujiGen PP, and the Red Special in particular - and on another day I might have come away with one of those. I guesss I never finally decided at the show which of those 2 guitars I would prefer - both are inestimably cool - I may start collecting mini classic guitar shapes in Ukulele format now!
I know there are lots of bands who deliberately favour smaller instruments now - this is surely a growth industry! All luthiers should make minis! For now though Fiodhan have the jump on the competition - and a marked first mover advantage!
