Where are the Sheeran guitars?

[AndrewG]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Kindnes

Well I'm sure he has lots of money to play with, but in my experience, people don't usually go into a business venture without expecting to make a profit.
Costs are high in Ireland, wages, insurance, council taxes, social insurance contributions, I can't see how they can do it? Maybe I'm wrong, it will be interesting to watch it unfold.

Yes, the last time I visited (Waterford, Tramore and Fenor), I was shocked at how much my Guinness cost. In fact everything seemed far more expensive than in England.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

Yes, the last time I visited (Waterford, Tramore and Fenor), I was shocked at how much my Guinness cost. In fact everything seemed far more expensive than in England.

My point exactly, I don't see how it can be done!

[Earlian]

Review by Guitar.com:

https://guitar.com/review/acoustic-g...s04-acoustics/

“Something immediately striking about both these guitars is the way they feel exactly like holding a Lowden. The visual vibe is much the same and the neck profile feels unaltered.”

[JayBee1404]

From the same review, slightly off-topic, but....

”and these may be the first guitars Lowden has produced with visible fret ends”.

Not so...my 2001 Lowden O-25, and my earlier O-10, had visible fret-ends, as was the practice with the ‘Original Series’ instruments back in the Newtownards days.

The O-25 had to go back to the Downpatrick workshop in perhaps 2016 for a new truss-rod, and the fingerboard had to be replaced as a result. The replacement board has ebony binding (no visible fret-ends) in conformity with Lowden’s modern practice - a very nice touch!

[Earlian]

Still no deliveries, even in UK, or?

[colder]

Originally Posted by Red_Label

Ed could make any guitar sound good, with or without FX, looper, etc. He's a great pop songwriter, player and performer. It's not about the FX. He seems to take a lot of heat on this forum and I don't understand it. Whether someone likes his music or not, he's one helluva talented musician.

Btw... I'm not implying that you have an issue with Ed's schtick or his talent. I just see some posts on this forum at times where people do.

I am not making a judgement about him one way or another, I am not familiar with his music, but the conventional wisdom around the guitar-internet is that he is not much of a guitar player. Probably just a standard judgement of a pop singer.

[Boozehound]

Personally don't think his guitar tone is anything to write home about. He is certainly talented, and I like a fair bit of his stuff, but not sure I would emulate his acoustic sound.

[lowrider]

I recently asked at Music Zoo, they are a Lowden dealer, and they never got back to me about when the Sheehan guitars will arrive, so I guess even the dealers don’t know when the Sheehan guitars will arrive.

[dhalbert]

I visited The Music Emporium recently, because someone said they had a demo Sheeran by Lowden. The demo had been sent back, unfortunately. They're expecting them relatively soon, but don't really know when exactly they'll show (or aren't telling), but July is possible.

[JayBee1404]

Originally Posted by colder

I am not making a judgement about him one way or another, I am not familiar with his music, but the conventional wisdom around the guitar-internet is that he is not much of a guitar player. Probably just a standard judgement of a pop singer.

He may not have the approval of guitar-freaks here or elsewhere, but he writes and performs songs that a very great many people - young and, like me, not-so-young - enjoy, he’s developed a style and skills with looping, he performs live without a band or backing singers but, using his looping skills, he sounds as though he has both, he fills stadiums, and he’s made a huge fortune from it in a very short space of time - he was worth ~£160 million (~$200 million) at the last count, not bad for a 28 year-old guy who’s ‘not much of a guitar player’.

I think he at least deserves respect for that.

No criticism of any individual intended here, I just feel that a young man who is primarily a singer/songwriter rather than a guitarist, who has brought pleasure to many, who has introduced the idea of playing guitar to a lot of young people who otherwise might never have got involved, and who has sunk a sizeable chunk of his own money into a partnership project with one of the top builders to develop a range of decent-quality, reasonably-priced guitars deserves better than side-swipe comments that he’s ‘not much of a guitar player’ yadda yadda.

The usual disclaimers apply......IMHO, YMMV etc.

[zeeway]

We gullible humans buy celebrity-endorsed products, be they golf clubs, tennis racquets, guitars, etc., in the hopes we will be just like Mike or Ed or ...( fill in the blank). I figured out with just a lot more talent, creativity, and practice, I could be really good, but does that stop me from looking for a short cut? Nope.

My personal goal is to sound as good as those old blues guys playing a twenty dollar guitar...

[Arthur Slowhand]

Originally Posted by Michael Watts

... I know for a fact that Ed's mini Martin sold very well indeed here in the UK.

Yup, they're selling by the bucket-load... erm, on eBay.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

Sure he has made millions, he can fill stadiums and use a looper, but really the statement "he's not much of a guitar player" is perfectly valid.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

Originally Posted by zeeway

We gullible humans buy celebrity-endorsed products, be they golf clubs, tennis racquets, guitars, etc., in the hopes we will be just like Mike or Ed or ...( fill in the blank). I figured out with just a lot more talent, creativity, and practice, I could be really good, but does that stop me from looking for a short cut? Nope.

My personal goal is to sound as good as those old blues guys playing a twenty dollar guitar...

Absolutely, it's all marketing. When I play to an audience, nobody notices whether I'm playing my Collings 0002h or my $250 recording king, especially when plugged in.
Most really good guitar players that I know just play whatever is to hand and make it sound great.

[Red_Label]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Kindnes

Sure he has made millions, he can fill stadiums and use a looper, but really the statement "he's not much of a guitar player" is perfectly valid.

It would be interesting to hear the playing of those who think Ed is "not much of a guitar player", so that a proper perspective might be able to be gained from such critiques.


Try looping, playing, and singing the way he does and see how difficult it is to do well. I am a guitar player, and I ran out a bought a Boss RC-300 looper because I was inspired by Ed's live performances. That was last year. Even though I've performed live since then, I still haven't gained the confidence in my looping skills to actually use it live. I've been performing live on guitar since 1984.


Ed isn't Paco de Lucia, Tony Rice, or Pierre Bensusan. But that hardly means he's "not much of a guitar player". And in regards to solo live performances that can entertain crowds of thousands for hours, there aren't that many guitar players who can hang with him. Must one be an instrumental virtuoso so be considered much of a guitar player? I can understand if people are somehow put-off by Ed's pop sensibilities and popularity, but the guy is very talented, period. And I don't understand the lack of respect for that.