You've probably seen this guitar already through the website and on the socials but thought I'd go into a little more detail about the history of it here.
So this is the all new NEW ISLINGTON (above). This is based on the first original design I came up with which you can see here;
The original design was based on a Les Paul Junior with a few modifications, namely more pointed horns and the coffin shaped art deco pickguard cover. It started life as a single pickup, set neck guitar with 21 frets and a 3x3 headstock. As it was just a single pickup guitar it had very simple controls - volume and tone.
It's a completely different beast now and has been redesigned from bottom up. The first run were made of European ash and white maple so were quite heavy - they are now made from obeche and roast maple so only weigh between 3kg-3.5kg depending on hardware. The hardware has completely changed too. originally it was all Wilkinson parts to keep costs down but I now use the best of the best so its a really high class custom instrument - ill do another post bout the hardware at a later date.
Pickups were originally supplied by Creamery but I have since moved to. a newer supplier (Green Pickups)who is at a similar stage in their business as I am. This way we can grow together and inspire each other to make better and better products. The pickups in the brand new NEW ISLINGTON were designed by both of us specifically for the guitar. They are called 'A Line Singles' - think hot strat output but with a bar style pole piece for more even response when bending. We are now working on the 'A Line Doubles'. can you guess what they will be? Sound demos incoming!
My guitars have always been about looking good, sounding good and playing good. on playing good - I've refined my neck shape quite a lot over the years and currently settled on a mid sized C with a slight flattening of the back - so a sort of C/D profile? I find this very comfortable and almost all who play one agree. this combined with rolled fretboard edges and great fret work make for a really nice playing experience.
Theres so many other little details like the 'Future Relic' finish, brass and MoP inlays, tapered german carve, matching headstock inlay, rotary selector and that amazing looking (and feeling) tremelo unit. I guess these will all make great blog posts though so keep coming back!
Thanks for your time again and please let me know if you have any questions!
Cheers - Dave