GEAR OF THE YEAR YEAR IN GUITAR
Our industry is dominated by the large heritage brands, but are they giving us what we really want? Should we start looking elsewhere?
I think a desire to be different was installed in me at a pretty early age. My father had a saying: “You’re just paying for the name.” So, while I could possibly have saved up and bought a real Gibson guitar, I struggled with endless copies justifying my purchase over a Gibson with my dad’s saying ringing in my ears. When I did get to borrow a real Gibson SG, even my classical music-loving mother commented, “Oh, that sounds nice” – something she’d never said when I played my Sak-of-something Asian copy. I was beginning to learn about sound.
A considerable number of years on from those memories, I’m still learning and looking for clues. Local to me there’s a reasonably vibrant live music scene, but rather like when watching Later… With Jools Holland or the TV coverage of Glastonbury, I’d guesstimate that well over 90 per cent of players, young or old, use a classic-shaped guitar. It’s not helped by the number of tribute or genre-specific bands now working in my locality: rockabilly (Fender Tele or Gretsch); jazz (Gibson ES-175 or ES- 335, or you’d just about get away with an Ibanez so long as it looked similar); blues (ES-335 or Strat); The Smiths (Rickenbacker). You get my drift.
For the past year or so I’ve been gigging with my original PJD Carey Standard and first-version Cream T Aurora Custom, plus my cherished Chris George Custom slide guitar. Even my bandmates give me funny looks when I strap on another ‘unusual’ guitar. But one guitar this year, which I wish I’d been able to rehearse or gig with, was Jason Snelling ’s Maybury Upscaler that we reviewed in issue 504. A what? Exactly. Imagine turning up to an audition with Liam or Noel with one of those. Even if I nailed every note and sound to perfection, there’s no way they’d let me anywhere near a stage with that. We hear with our eyes after all.
With the Upscaler, I’m certainly not paying for the name because Maybury Guitars doesn’t have one. Actually, that’s not fair – luthier Jason Snelling is making good stuff and is very visible on social media platforms such as Instagram, where the majority of his orders originate. He was also a pleasure to work with while we were discussing the build. To be honest, I gave him free rein, and I was far from disappointed when the guitar arrived.
The backstory is the thing that initially attracted me: a custom-made guitar that uses recycled parts wherever sensible.
The body – shaped to one of Jason’s original designs, the Fish
