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“You are my god”: Japan’s self-described “rocker” prime minister meets with Deep Purple ahead of Budokan Hall show
Japan’s 65-year-old conservative prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, told Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice “you are my god” ahead of the band’s show at Tokyo’s legendary Budokan Hall on Saturday.
Takaichi, who became Japan’s first-ever female prime minister in October last year, played keyboards in a Deep Purple tribute band and drums for a heavy metal group at university. She has reportedly been a fan of the group since grade school, which children in Japan attend until the age of 12, when she purchased their 1972 album, Machine Head.
“I can’t believe Deep Purple are here,” she beamed as she greeted the London metal five piece. “I have the deepest respect for the way you continue to make rock history while embracing new challenges and creating captivating music to this day.”
She added that she hopes the tour will promote cultural exchange between the UK and Japan and that their show will excite fans all over the country.
Meeting the band at Tokyo’s tourism office, she gifted Paice a pair of signed Japanese-made drumsticks, to which Paice told her: “You’re a drummer: we are friends!”.
Deep Purple are in Japan for their on-going world tour, which included a show at Budokan Hall, Tokyo. The legendary arena has welcomed the likes of The Beatles, Bob Dylan and ABBA, who performed their last-ever show at the venue in March 1980.
In 1972, Deep Purple released their Made in Japan live double album to critical acclaim, which included recordings from Budokan Hall, a venue the band have described as one of their favourites to play.
“It’s always a pleasure to come to Japan,” said Paice, “and this time we have an added bonus.”
Takaichi, who enjoyed a 92 per cent approval rating among young Japanese voters as recently as December, has repeatedly flexed her musical background and acumen.
In January, a clip of her drumming K-pop super-group BTS’s track “Dynamite” and the song “Golden” from hit Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung went viral.
Takaichi also made multiple appearances on Babymetal’s Metal Radio, a Tokyo FM show hosted by members of the all-female Japanese metal band Babymetal, prior to her election.
She told them: “When I get irritated by my husband’s choice of words or behaviour, I play the electronic drums after he’s gone to bed. ‘Burn’ by Deep Purple is a staple. I play songs like this to let off steam.”
She repeated the anecdote to Deep Purple, joking: “These days, when I fight with my husband I drum to ‘Burn’ and cast a curse on him.”
Takaichi has been called Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’ for her adulation of Margaret Thatcher and her conservative social and economic views. She is also a member of the Nippon Kaigi, a nationalist lobby group, and is considered the protege of the country’s assassinated nationalist ex-prime minister, Shinzo Abe.
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“I didn’t want to go into that situation again where you are an expendable guy”: Gus G on why he turned down all auditions following his stint in Ozzy Osbourne’s band
Despite serving as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist for 8 years, Gus G wasn’t surprised when he was asked to hand back guitar duties to his predecessor, Zakk Wylde, in 2017. Considering Wylde and Ozzy’s history, he considered their reunion “inevitable” – and, while there was no bad blood, he’s adamant he’ll never accept another gig that feels temporary.
While Gus doesn’t regret his years serving in Ozzy’s band, nowadays he only involves himself with his own band, Firewind, or projects that guarantee a level of job security. Speaking to The Metal Voice, the guitarist explains that, even if it means turning down big opportunities, he never wants to feel “expendable” again.
“It was a conscious decision for me after the Ozzy gig to not join other bands,” he says [via Blabbermouth]. “I’ve had offers to audition [and] potentially join much bigger bands than mine, but I didn’t want to go into that situation again where you are an expendable guy, and you don’t get to call the shots.”
He goes on to admit that all work post-Ozzy “is probably gonna be a downgrade anyway”, adding: “if you’re gonna downgrade, you might as well do it on your own terms… And I really enjoy calling my own shots!”
Of course, turning down big offers wasn’t always easy; in the past, he’s revealed in the past that he could have auditioned for Megadeth and Machine Head. However, it was crucial to stick to his guns. “I almost had to prove a point again,” the guitarist reflects. “I had my career pre-Ozzy with Firewind, and then, after Ozzy, I had to start from scratch again… I thought I would just pick it up wherever I left off, but it wasn’t like that.”
“I really had to go out there and play with smaller fees than before, grind for it, invest in it…” he adds. “[But] we’re in a good position now… and I love that freedom of calling the shots, having a great team [where] we can communicate, create our own future and our own opportunities.”
When Wylde was reinstated as Ozzy’s guitarist back in 2017, Gus could have easily kicked up a fuss. However, he’s always sang Ozzy and Wylde’s praises in the press. “I was bummed ‘cause I knew I’d probably never see [Ozzy] or play with him again… [but] it totally made sense,” he told Guitar World last year. “Ozzy and Zakk have so much history together; those guys had to get back at some point. It was inevitable.”
“Ozzy was always in my thoughts, and I hoped he’d get through [his illness],” Gus continues, reflecting on Ozzy’s unfortunate passing last year. “As for Zakk, I bumped into him at a festival in France a couple of years ago and we spoke a bit. He’s always been very nice to me.”
Gus is set to drop his fifth solo record, Steel Burner, On 24 April.
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Massive trove of random rock memorabilia – including Eddie Van Halen’s 6th grade history homework – headed for auction
A massive auction of over 1,000 pieces of rock and roll history has gone live, offering items owned and played by the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton and Elvis Presley.
Now open for bidding, the 2026 April Rock & Roll Auction by Backstage Auctions is predicted to fetch upwards of seven figures overall, with a cumulative estimate of up to $1.5 million.
There are guitars aplenty, including an Italian-made acoustic Eko Ranger signed by Bob Dylan himself and two formerly owned by Keith Richards: a classic Gibson bearing his felt-tip signature, and a bespoke 2005 Duesenberg Starplayer Outlaw electric guitar custom–made for the Rolling Stone. The guitar, which Richards gave to McLagan as a birthday gift, features rhinestones, skull-shaped knobs and a pearlescent yellow mosaic finish on the body.
In fact, several museum-worthy pieces are up for grabs. There’s the custom 1994 Don Musser acoustic guitar played by Eddie Van Halen, which was a “key component” of Van Halen’s Billboard-topping 1995 album Balance, recorded at 5150 Studios.
The instrument was also used in a couple of tracks on follow-up Van Halen III, namely “Without You” and “New World”.
For the cinematically inclined, there’s Elvis Presley’s iconic sunburst Gibson acoustic which co-starred in his smash-hit 1964 film Viva Las Vegas. The movie, regarded as one of the King’s best, sees him play a race-car driver competing for the affection of Rusty, played by Ann-Margret. It was during filming that the pair first met and began a torrid affair. The couple were even rumoured to have briefly considered elopement.
But the standout of the collection is a stripped woodgrain 1965 Fender Telecaster with a Stratocaster neck, which the auction house describes as a “singular piece of rock and roll history”.
As well as the Stratocaster neck, part of an exchange with mod icon Steve Marriott, the chimeric guitar features a humbucker salvaged from a Gibson SG that Pete Townshend smashed to pieces during one of The Who’s iconic Marquee Club performances. The object was among McLagan’s prized possessions and was his “primary soulmate in his musical journey”.
Other notable pieces for sale include a 1974 black Fender Stratocaster owned and played on-stage by Eric Clapton and a Chinese-style Paiste gong extensively used by Keith Moon until his death in 1976.
Among the wonderfully niche and downright weird items of rock memorabilia is Eddie Van Halen’s 6th grade history homework on the Soviet Union, which earned the legendary guitarist to-be a solid B+ from his teacher Mrs Burton. And it could be yours for $500.
There’s also an “avant-garde” safety-pinned leather thong worn by Fee Waybill of The Tubes going for the same price. Or a purple felt-tip doodle by the late Kurt Cobain, which depicts a stick figure – “presumably himself”, as notes the auction house – about to be hit by a bus is commanding a lean $2,000. The scribble, says Backstage Auctions, “provide[s] insight into his creative mind”.
The collection chiefly comes from the personal archives of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Ian McLagan, who passed away in Austin in December 2014. Best known for his work with the seminal English rock bands Small Faces and Faces, McLagan also toured with Bob Dylan and worked as a sideman for the Rolling Stones.
Learn more at Backstage Auctions.
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Sammy Hagar claims he undergoes stem cell treatment to keep him in performing shape: “A singer cannot get trashed and still pull off shows”
What’s the secret to eternal youth? Former Van Halen vocalist Sammy Hagar, 78, reckons the answer is simple: stem cell treatment.
Speaking with the Daily Express US ahead of a six-show UK solo tour in July, his first in three decades, Hagar shared that he stays healthy and preserves his powerhouse voice through a regime of regular exercise, daily vitamins and stem cell therapy – an anti-aging treatment that uses specialised cells to repair and regenerate body tissue.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer explained: “I take things that stop my body from getting stiff – anti-inflammatories and vitamins, nutrition that you need in your body as you get older.
“I do stem cell therapy with an IV. I do it every six months. I put young stem cells in my body. And I feel the difference.”
Hagar first joined Van Halen in 1985 after David Lee Roth’s departure, and played with the band throughout the ’80s and ’90s before departing in 1996.
This means his arrival coincided with some of the band’s most debaucherous years, a lifestyle that had, in part, pushed his predecessor to quit the band at its pinnacle. During the aptly named “Van Hagar” era, Van Halen developed a more anthemic, synth-oriented sound.
Hagar conceded that he was down to party in his Van Halen years: “I was guilty as everyone else.” But, even then, he insisted on putting his health and work first. “I had a job to do. My job was more important than anything.”
He even told his managers to lock him in hotel rooms to remove him from the “undisciplined” partying of his bandmates. “It’s worked for me. I’ve run my life like this from day one. I used to never even drink and do any drugs of any kind.
“People say the most important thing is family, but it’s your job because if you don’t have a job and can’t support your family, then you’re an asshole. A singer cannot get trashed and still pull off shows.”
Hagar would rejoin Van Halen in 2003, before leaving for good two years later.
Hagar vocalist isn’t the only legendary rocker who has turned to stem cell treatment in their older age. The late Ozzy Osbourne publicly used experimental stem cells to manage his Parkinson’s disease. His Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi also enlisted stem cells to repair damaged cartilage in his hand.
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David Lee Roth made a surprise appearance during Teddy Swims’ Coachella Festival set – and the pair covered Van Halen’s Jump
It wouldn’t be Coachella Festival without a few surprises – and this year was no exception. From the legendary Jack White’s last minute addition to the line-up to Billy Corgan hopping onstage to sing with alt-popstar Sombr, Coachella had some great treats for rock fans this year.
One particular standout came during R&B star Teddy Swims’ set on Friday (10 April). With a stage designed to look like an apartment, surprise guests would sporadically ‘ring the doorbell’, only for Swims to welcome them out to perform a track. While his other guests included singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton and a pop-rocking Jonas Brother, Joe Jonas, one such guest happened to be the iconic Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth.
Swims was clearly honoured to be performing with Roth, considering his grand introduction. “Oh my God – it’s David Lee Roth from the best fucking band of all time, Van Halen!” he yells out into the audience. Then, with Roth by his side, Swims kicked into a hearty version of Van Halen’s timeless track, Jump.
And Roth certainly dressed up for the occasion. At age 71, he’s showing no signs of toning down the showmanship, decked out in an intricately beaded waistcoat, cravat and tight silver and black trousers. Throughout the set, he’s the vision of some kind of futuristic cowboy as he hypes up the crowd with glee.
Though the performance had a minor hiccup, with the pair missing a timing cue, it serves as a testament of how different generations of music can co-exist. Sombr’s performance with The Smashing Pumpkins’ Corgan also had a minor mic malfunction, but their performance of the Pumpkins’ marvellous 1979 went down a treat.
Last year, Olivia Rodrigo had a similar experience when Robert Smith emerged during her Coachella headline set, with the pair duetting their way through The Cure’s Friday I’m in Love and Just Like Heaven.
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“She is in every note I play”: How a widower used his wife’s ashes and wedding ring to craft the most beautifully poignant custom guitar
Teruya Guitars founder Micah Teruya has just completed his most personal build to date. Following a long battle with leukaemia, Teruya’s wife Karrah sadly passed away last August – but the luthier is ensuring that her spirit lives on through this beautiful custom-made electric guitar.
Rather than merely stowing Karrah’s ashes in an urn, Teruya has transformed his wife into something beautiful. The pastel pink Matriarch guitar serves as poignant one-of-a-kind axe in honour of Teruya’s late wife – and it’s even got Karrah’s ashes inlaid on the headstock, and her wedding ring embedded in the fretboard.
While Teruya often documents the entire process of his guitar builds, this project was kept under wraps until the final reveal. However, the craftsman did film the two most meaningful moments, when he is delicately inlaying Karrah’s ashes and her ring. He has shared the clips alongside some of his most cherished videos and memories of his wife. “The process was incredibly painful for me but I wanted to share this with you because of how much it means to me,” he writes on Instagram.
“Having to deal with the technical aspects of building a guitar colliding with the emotional weight of who I lost was unbearable,” he continues. “Often I could only work for 10-30 minutes on this before being physically and emotionally drained.”
Despite the pain, finishing the Matriarch guitar was a crucial part of processing his grief. “This guitar needed to be finished before I could continue on any other projects – it took me over 6 months to finish,” he admits. “Going through my camera roll for these clips of Karrah brought me to tears several times. She was so magnificent and beautiful. I wish all of you could have gotten to know her, she would have changed your world for the better.”
In another post, Teruya explains why he opted for the Matriarch name. “Karrah was the Matriarch of our family and friends, she dedicated everything in her life to bring all of us closer together…” he writes. “Nobody tells you that you can continue to love someone more even after they leave this life. I built this guitar to honour her life and her legacy in a way that is personal and sacred to me.”
In terms of the wedding ring on the fretboard, he also explains that its positioning holds a special, personal meaning. “Traditionally it would be placed in the 12th fret to mark the octave, however, we were married for 10 years, 11 months and 14 days, therefore I decided to place the ring between the 10th and 11th fret to symbolise how long we had been married,” he explains.
“This was the most painful experience I ever had building an instrument… but now she is in every note I play,” he concludes.
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Lyndon Laney, founder of Laney Amplification, has died
Lyndon Laney – founder of legendary British amp brand Laney Amplification – has died aged 77.
In a statement shared with Guitar.com, the brand confirms Laney’s passing, calling him a “creator, innovator and trusted figure whose passion for the industry was at the heart of his working life”.
Lyndon Laney founded Laney Amplification in 1967 at just 19 years old. The brand would become internationally respected in the decades following, and has helped shape the sound of many high-profile guitar players, including Lyndon Laney’s longtime friend, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath.
Though perhaps primarily associated with Laney Amplification, Lyndon Laney was a successful industry veteran elsewhere, having developed several ventures which ultimately became what is now the Headstock Group.
- READ MORE: Laney’s new Prism-Mini is a pocket-sized smart amp ready to take on Positive Grid’s Spark GO
The group first expanded into the Pro Audio sector with the acquisition of HH Audio, followed by the development of Headstock Distribution, representing brands like Ibanez, Tama, Zildjian, Vic Firth and DiMarzio.
“Lyndon’s influence extended far beyond business success; he was admired for his warmth, integrity, humour and quiet determination,” Laney Brand Director Lee Wrathe says.
“Lyndon was not only a founder, but also a creator, innovator and trusted figure whose passion for industry was at the heart of his working life. His legacy continues through the business he built and through his son, James Laney, who proudly carries that vision forward.
“He will be greatly missed by his family, friends, colleagues and the wider music community.”
Among those who have paid tribute to Lyndon Laney is Tony Iommi, who says he is “absolutely devastated” at his friend’s passing.
“I’m so sad to say that I lost my very dear friend Lyndon Laney to cancer on Friday,” Iommi writes in a post on X. “I am absolutely devastated. We go back to the late ‘60s when I first met him and I started using his Laney amps. He was a really lovely guy and his great passion was building valve amps. He also loved his cars as I did as well, we had so much in common.
“We’d sit talking about ideas and what to build into my amplifiers. I am so honoured to have known him and his family. James, his son, has been running the company for some years now and he has carried on the business and has pushed it forward with some brilliant ideas. My deepest condolences go out to Lyndon’s wife Jan and son James.”
I’m so sad to say that I lost my very dear friend Lyndon Laney to Cancer on Friday. I am absolutely devastated. We go back to the late sixties when I first met him and I started using his Laney amps. He was a really lovely guy and his great passion was building valve amps. He… pic.twitter.com/qEXJChknLO
— Tony Iommi (@tonyiommi) April 13, 2026
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How Emerald Guitars changed the perception of carbon fibre guitars – and put the player’s needs at the heart of everything
While many CEOs of international instrument makers take the reins of a heritage company already decades or even centuries in existence, Emerald Guitars founder Alistair Hay came to the acoustic guitar via a very different route. His previous career in the high-adrenaline sport of Formula 1 powerboat racing established him as one of the world’s leading experts in the use of carbon fibre. But how did he come to start making guitars out of them?
Waiting for a delayed flight in 1999, Hay bought a guitar magazine, and while he flicked through the pages the idea came to him: take his expertise with carbon fibre, apply it to the acoustic guitar, and expand the sonic, aesthetic and ergonomic experience of players around the world.
Emerald Guitars on the Guitar.com Cover. Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com
The question you’re probably asking yourself here is, ‘Aren’t guitars made of wood?’ Well, most of the time – but not always. People have been trying to make electric guitars out of alternative materials for decades, but acoustic guitars are often a sticking point – after all, so much of their tone is created by the sympathetic vibrations of various bits of wood.
But there have been various attempts to make guitars out of carbon fibre over the years, some more successful than others. And if you wanted to know if the characteristics that make the material perfect for a world-championship carbon fibre motorboat can also make a good guitar, Alistair Hay is the man to ask.
“A racing boat has to actually work with the vibrations of the water: to flex and move. That really is the essence of a really good quality acoustic guitar too”
“That is a very interesting question,” Hay muses. “In actual fact, there’s a lot of similarities. When I worked for the raceboat champion, Bill Seebold, he would talk about tuning the boat and how a boat should flex and how it should move.
“A racing boat isn’t just about being super rigid. It has to actually work with the vibrations of the water, to flex and move. It’s a delicate balance. And let’s face it, that really is the essence of a really good quality acoustic guitar too.”
Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com
Pushing The Envelope
Since setting up Emerald in a workshop in Donegal, in the north west of Ireland, the brand has become known for building guitars with radical and striking designs that would be all but impossible to execute in wood.
Ergonomic curves and contours, bevelled edges and offset soundholes are all hallmarks of the brand. If you’ve been scrolling through the guitar-based corners of Tiktok and Instagram over the last few years, chances are you’ve done a double-take at one of these unconventional guitars in the hands of some of the most impressive players out there.
Social media has been a key driver in the recent success Emerald has enjoyed across the globe. So much so that last year the brand opened a US-based warehouse and showroom – run by Alistair’s brother Chris – to cope with the demand from across the pond, allowing the brand to reach more players than ever.
“A lot of the people that tell you to do something more conservative will actually have no interest in buying your work even if you do follow their advice”
But when you see someone like Nathaniel Murphy make effortless magic on an Emerald, it becomes abundantly clear that these designs are not just pieces to be enjoyed visually. Their wonderfully rich sound is also a vital component of Emerald’s success – even though finding that voice has been a process.
“Initially I just wanted these guitars to sound musical and sweet, and not sound synthetic or plastic,” Hay recalls.
“A lot of it was trial and error to begin with – seeing what made a carbon fibre guitar too bright or too dark, too quiet or just not musical. We started to learn the parameters and how things worked within our own designs. Essentially, these days our priorities are clarity of note with richness and warmth and power.”
Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com
Hole In One
In the quarter of a century that Emerald has been pushing the envelope, the brand has explored varied territory – from dreadnoughts and parlors to Weissenborn lap guitars, hybrid electric-acoustics and basses.
One common thread both sonically and visually to nearly all of these designs is the presence of an offset soundhole – positioned not in the traditional place beneath the strings, but on the guitar’s top horn right below the player’s ear. This design hallmark came about through trial and error.
“The very first guitar that I ever made was a dreadnought with a centre soundhole,” Hay explains. “I just made a mould from my own existing acoustic guitar as the basis, and to start with our designs were kind of traditional in that regard. They still had the shaped back and some nice details, but funnily enough at that time I had people telling me that our designs needed to be more traditional – like a straight copy of a Martin Dreadnought or a Gibson SJ-200, just in carbon fibre – honestly!
“It was at that point that I realised that a lot of the people that tell you to do something more conservative will actually have no interest in buying your work even if you do follow their advice.”
“Carbon fibre has allowed us to do things that would be unviable in wood”
Hay’s first two models, which had centre soundholes, “were nice guitars but just horrible flops from a commercial point of view”. Then he designed the X20 model, “which was a total game changer”: “It was the first guitar where I really started to look at ergonomics and designing a guitar that played to the strengths of carbon fibre rather than pandering to tradition.”
But even as Hay gained confidence in his abilities as a luthier, he was still second-guessing himself as a businessman.
“I knew I had something special with the X20, but you know what? After I made the first one, I had it sitting there for a year and a half before I was brave enough to actually put it onto the market,” he reveals.
“I was thinking it was too radical. That people weren’t going to take this right. And then we put it out there and it was a huge success. That was the pivotal moment for Emerald. That was the guitar that influenced everything else that we designed from then on.”
Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com
Comfort In Sound
This is what sets Emerald apart from other makers of carbon fibre guitars: this focus on designing an instrument that exploits the inherent advantages of the material to better accommodate the player.
Whether you’re holding an X20 dreadnought or a Virtuo hybrid, the contours and curves of the instrument fit around you more like an electric guitar than a traditional acoustic, enabling a different physical connection.
“Ergonomics is a huge part of what we do and how people feel and experience these guitars,” Hay agrees. “It’s definitely one of the things that we get the best feedback on.
“People just love to sit down and play our guitars for hours on end. Carbon fibre has allowed us to do things that would be unviable in wood. Some people think it’s all done in a computer but our design process is actually a lot more hands-on.”
“There’s a different mindset when you’re buying a carbon guitar. You can just think a little bit more creatively”
That process is both untraditional and more organic than you might expect in this era of CAD design.
“I start off with an outline on a big slab of household insulation foam,” he says. “It’s a cheap material and it’s very easy to manipulate. I cut it into shape with a jigsaw or a hand saw and then start to sand it into shape. So it’s a very tactile process, and something that I wouldn’t know how to even start to do on a computer.
“It allows me to make these little adjustments and then a solid physical shape that we’ll start to cast moulds from. That’s my design process: just feeling my way through it.”
Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com
Brace Yourself
Anyone steeped in the lore of acoustic guitars understands that the voicing of a traditional instrument revolves around the pattern of braces used to give the guitar’s top and back stability as they vibrate under tension. This is irrelevant with a carbon fibre guitar, so how does one voice an instrument in this way?
“We do control the stiffness of our soundboards, which is created by using different layers of carbon fibre,” Hay reveals. “If you were to look inside, you’re not going to see any bracing. It looks totally flat, but the top of an Emerald guitar can contain anything from two to eight layers of carbon in different areas of the top.
“Carbon fibre has a grain pattern and a stiffness to it that can be manipulated in just the same way as wood. The thing with carbon fibre is that we can repeat that pattern many times, whereas every piece of wood is unique.”
Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com
Wood And Steel
For a carbon fibre guitar company, Emerald still keeps quite an extensive wood library in its Donegal factory. This is because one of the company’s aesthetic calling cards is to embed a thin veneer of elaborately figured wood into the soundboard of the instrument.
Usually, these woods are the sort of elaborately figured materials other makers would keep to the back and sides – such as cocobolo, ziricote, royal ebony and quilted maple – but Emerald puts them front and centre, in a fan-driven flourish.
“Our clients have led so many of our decisions over the years,” Hay says. “Choosing a wood veneer allows each Emerald guitar to be unique, and that does matter. I’m always looking for a way to make our instruments eye-catching, and a spectacular slice of mother nature on the front definitely does that.
“That’s my design process: just feeling my way through it”
“Figured woods are often used on the back and sides of guitars but no-one can see them there. That seems a bit of a shame to me. We enjoy showing all that beauty on the front of our guitars. The veneers are so thin they make no difference sonically – they’re just there for aesthetics. We have used spruce and cedar in the past but you know – where’s the fun in that?”
Emerald Guitars sprung from one man’s curiosity and career expertise in carbon fibre – and after 25 years of hard work and dedication to craft, it’s poetic that others have come on board, not just as customers but as enthusiasts whose own design ideas help make the journey fun.
“It’s amazing how imaginative our customers are,” Hay marvels. “They’ve designed instruments that we just never would have thought of that have been a pleasure to make. I think there’s a different mindset when you’re buying a carbon guitar. You can just think a little bit more creatively.”
Words: Michael Watts
Photography: Andy Ford
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