Hello everyone and I hope that you’re all keeping safe and well!
Thanks for the few messages and, as I'm new to this, it’s good to meet some folks here as well! :-)
OK! So I've dropped the ball a bit with my previous post but let's fast forward quickly with as much detail as I can present over the next few regular postings regarding a very special ‘once in a lifetime’ project!
I’d mentioned earlier about a very special journey that I wanted to share with you all and it's time to talk about that now. I've had a unique, ‘one off’ Guitar in my mind for about the last decade or so but to be really honest there were just way too many boxes to tick to even think it would ever be a possibility, let alone it becoming a reality in this lifetime!
I wanted a Custom built Guitar in memory of my dear mum who's always been my main inspiration in music, and in life! My dad introduced me to music but it was her that kept me focused and inspired, to be true to myself with every step I took along this ‘life path!' To be myself musically was an important lesson I learnt very quickly early on and it’s still my ongoing goal.
She was born in Punjab (Amritsar) / India and my Grandparents moved to Africa in the 1940’s to settle, though they moved back to India in the 1970's. She always said India was her ‘true’ home and she’d spend quite a few months there every year with her parents. We were lucky as my dad worked for the Airlines and free / discounted tickets were always provided for us.
To keep to her true religious Sikh faith, her spiritual beliefs and the essence of the beautiful lady that she was the luthier had to be a Sikh! There was no compromise there for me and furthermore he / she would have to be born and live in India and have an extensive knowledge with Indian woods, partly because I did not have a clue about these! The level of craftsmanship I was after would have to be the BEST! Total FINESSE! Again without any compromises! …after all, this was for my mum and only the finest would honour her memory!
Did even such a luthier exist? I'd completely given up on the idea as I've been heavily into Lowden Guitars, right from the start, and as I’m on their artist rota that’s pretty much been my world, apart from being introduced to the phenomenal Kostal Guitars by my good mate Michael Watts. So you can imagine what my standard for a custom guitar would have to be! …hence the custom guitar idea had been put away at the back of my mind and I’d just occasionally dream of it every so often. That is to say UNTIL I was introduced to KARAN SINGH from Delhi of BIGFOOT Guitars via Jason Kostal on Facebook! WHAT I said???? …an Indian luthier and a Sikh! REALLY... can this even be humanly possible?? My curiosity went wild! Surly??
I introduced myself to Karan very quickly and what struck me instantly was that he was a sweetheart of a guy! Very down to earth and friendly! We chatted a bit but with no real intent of a build and I checked out his work on
www.bigfootguitars.com and needless to say I was very impressed! What struck me straight away was that he was pushing the boundaries and I love that in my music too as I always strive to push it off course and see where the interesting approaches will take me… and furthermore, like Jason Kostal, I recognised an ‘artist’ in Karan!
Karan had been invited by Jason to come over and study with him for a while and I instantly understood that for Jason to do that Karan must be quite special, and all of a sudden the ideas of making a guitar in tribute to my mum started to surface all over again.
Karan mentioned to me that he'd be exhibiting his work at the UK Guitar Show a few months later and that we'd arrange to meet, for sure. I still had not mentioned my idea to him and I popped over to his exhibit stand where he'd brought two guitars with him. Upon impression I was blown away by the striking beauty and confidence they represented! They looked pure ART! Very FINE and high end! Gosh I was transfixed, in particular to a Spalted Tamarind OM cutaway (as seen in the pic below). It looked stunning and I'll be honest I'm not that great on woods knowledge as I just play them but, as with any other player, sound is very important to me and I asked Karan if I could play his guitars! He grabbed them both and we went into a quiet little area and it was an eye / ear opening experience for me!
Apart from a Kostal, I had not played a guitar that looked pure ART before, let alone the easy and friendliness of playability, the neck felt strong and the sound just blew me away! Both guitars were confident with crystal clear highs and a balanced well rounded depth on the low end! They resonated life and I was speechless! The body was extremly comfortable! I knew instantly that I'd found my man to make my dream come true!
I talked with Karan very briefly then and mentioned my ‘dream’ to him and that I needed all Indian woods! I mentioned ‘Teak' wood and he laughed! He said; let’s talk GUITARS not furniture!! (That's how little I know about woods!) Karan asked me a few questions about my mum and instantly said; let’s try and source as many of the woods that we can from Amritsar; her birth place! This sounds very personal and special to you! I was instantly sold! We left it at that but I quickly threw a few options that were necessary to me, i.e., bevel, cutaway and short scale length! He said not a problem at all and as I was walking away I remembered something and quickly ran back… I just said to him; you know the dot markers? He quickly jumped in saying; you want glow in the dark ones! I was at peace from there on!
I went home and could not get his guitars out of my mind… the sound was simply stunning. They played great and looked pure ART! The craftsmanship was another level! It was perfection in play! AND more importantly I knew I’d be getting a high end instrument with pure hand craftsmanship… this was not a factory build and I loved that! Grassroots level and that‘s what me mum was too!
Over the next few weeks I started to get some solid ideas down to present to Karan and we started chatting a couple of weeks later upon his return to India. I loved the way he did not interrupt me with what I had in my mind, apart from ‘teak’ woods :-) He was so open to everything I had envisioned, taking it all in and coming up with not only ‘my’ personality of a guitar but of my mum.. What build would honour her the most! What guitar would I be happy with and I wanted him to think outside of the box too as that was my first impression of him… I wanted his personality in the guitar too! Not just a standard build. I was chasing that uniqueness!!
I’ve talked a lot about his guitars that I played at the show but the man I met was a sweet, humble, kind and generous guy! He had his lovely wife and son at the show and there was a real sense of family there. That is one of the main reasons I’ve been with Lowden Guitars for a long time; they treat me like family and Karan treated me exactly the same! He is a true gentleman! He was more focused on the sensitivity of my ‘dream’ and treating it with utmost respect rather than selling me a guitar!
I knew that this would be a pleasure… this journey was very special to me and that I could trust Karan to make it happen.
I’ll be talking more on the start of the build next week! That was a lot of fun!!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and please keep checking in as this is quite exciting! And as this guitar is more about my mum, I thought I'd share a pic of her;
