About me…
I never intended to become a guitar maker… Ive had a few other jobs over the years but we may or may not get to that later. I originally trained as a furniture designer and maker, Spent years at art school and somehow became a climber, professional one at that! I kinda fell (pun intended) into industrial climbing and abseiling and from there it went ballistic! Travelling the world over to every unexotic place imaginable, a two decade long rush of airport lounges, heliports, train stations, weird and wonderful places I didnt really get to see! Every oil rig, gas plant, tar pit, sand pit and shit hole you can think of… from Shetland to Libya to the south China Sea and back! Gave me a lot of nightmares and a lot of stories. But that’s for another day…
“Everything that has happened had to happen for you to be here now” as the Buddhist saying goes. And its true, I wouldn’t change that for anything!
A fascination with the broken…
Somewhere down the line I developed a fascination with all things old and beat up, stuff with stories to tell. Theres a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ as the French would say, and in my case its with relics, the old and shoddy, stuff that looks like it been to hell and back! I can’t stand the look and feel of the modern ‘new’ its soulless I find. Im not knocking it, if that’s your thing that’s your thing! No judgement, its just not mine, I like weathered, I like beat up, I like used… I love old Levis on the brink of falling apart, rat rod motorcycles, sleeper custom cars in a vintage style and sheer originality, new dressed as old, all these things influence what I do… From a four string resonator built from a suitcase or reclaimed oak to a Custom Strat that looks like it was used by the Devil himself and back…
Do what you love… love what you do!
I love what I do, passionately. Its one of the few times I can quieten my mind, focus, let everything else bleed away.
I can and do get lost in what Im doing, to an almost pathological fixation sometimes! Just ask the Boss indoors!
So if you want a unique custom guitar, made by a slightly weird, grumpy, stiff, mid fifties skateboarder who is the epitome of a genuine Gen’ Xer…? Look no further.
Your dream guitar…
Ive made guitars for clients all over the world, from Harlow to Hawaii, Manchester to Maine, Lisbon to Lima, Perth to Paris and Birmingham, Alabama back to Birmingham West Midlands!
So, whether you're a seasoned musician searching for your perfect instrument or a budding artist hoping to find your melody, I invite you to embark on this musical journey with me. Together, let's create guitars that not only sound magnificent but also tell captivating stories of their own.