Designing a new guitar is one thing. Getting it made in a factory across the world is another matter entirely, even for the likes of Patrick James Eggle and the Shergold team…
You might think that once you’ve created a new guitar design, the work is done. You hit the send button to your factory of choice and a few months later a shipment of shiny guitars arrives ready for sale. If only. Shergold’s new Provocateur is a typical example of the often convoluted process involved.
“I think we started about 18 months ago,” remembers Patrick James Eggle, one of the UK’s most celebrated guitars makers and also the brains behind both the Shergold and Faith acoustic guitar designs (both brands are owned by Barnes & Mullins here in the UK). “I put the design down on paper and one of the guys I work with put it into a CAD drawing programme. Then we made basic prototypes and sent them to our workshop in Indonesia.
“But when we got the samples back, they just weren’t right. We went through this process a few times and, to cut a long story short, in the end, the guitars were really good – but they were still missing something. It was all the little things, you know? The feel of the neck, the way the fret ends were finished, how the fingerboard edges were rolled or not. Annoying little things like the two percent at the end that can make a guitar or kill it.
“And all this was after we’d been out to the factory and spent a few days trying to get all this done,” continues Patrick, trying not to sound as exasperated as he clearly felt. “In the end, we got two of the guys from the workshop in Indonesia to come here to my workshop where we spent a week making a guitar from scratch. It was tight: at about 4.30pm on the last day they were here, we got the strings on and it was playing and then they took it back with them. We said, ‘This is exactly what we want. Do everything the way we showed you: make this guitar.’ That’s the way it went. The next samples we received, well, they are the ones that you’ve got there.
Bu hikaye Guitarist dergisinin May 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Guitarist dergisinin May 2019 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Sonic Shaper
Electro-Harmonix revisits the effect that launched the company with the LPB-3 Linear Power Booster and EQ
Platinum Blonde
PRS has updated its Texas-voiced David Grissom signature amp with more features, lower wattage and a more approachable price tag
TAN LINES
Many of us regard straps as a bit of an afterthought, but to find one that matches the quality of a custom or vintage guitar, Rod Boyes of Pinegrove Leather can help
ELECTRIC STRINGS
Your tone starts with your strings - strike a balance between sound, tuning and durability with six of our favourites
DIFFERENT WINDS
While there's no end to repros of all the classic pickup styles, more and more pickup makers are mixing things up to move forward - Cream T is a good example
Long termers
A few months' gigging, recording and everything that goes with it - welcome to Guitarist's longterm test report
Top Guns
Chapman's new factory move coincides with a bit of a rethink. We track down the key players all around the world
the Wishlist
Dream gear to beg, borrow and steal for...
Reach For The Star
Earlier this year Guild reorganised its 70s-era Polara range. We spent some time with this mid-range 2024 model: a modern pawn-shop prize or a copy too far?
HIGH FLYER
Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX remembers the flight path - and turbulence behind Chris Buck's Electric Lightning overdrive/boost, named after a fighter jet and packing a bona fide valve