Artists

Andy Duke

Flesh Tetris, Bass Trebadour & Session Musician

A man, who in his own words, “seeks to play bass in the same way that Stuart Copeland approaches the drums” doesn’t really need an introduction, and this is especially true if you’ve ever seen Andy playing live. His supercharged playing is made even more impressive by the sheer complexity of his bass lines and his signature, signal splitting sound, so his bass can also double up as a rhythm guitar. The real beauty in Andy’s playing (and writing) though, is that despite the electrifying playing, he somehow maintains a real delicacy in every single note he plays, which is just truly captivating, and it’s a level of musicianship that few of us will ever attain, and his showreel of previous work is testament to this, being longer than the extended editions of all 3 lord of the rings films. Bravo sir.

Andy was instrumental in creating the 34″ Pioneer  Bass with me. His attention to detail on pick up placements and active circuitry really helped give the bass it’s unique tonal palette, whilst still being able to deliver the familiar tones of a P, J & MM without even breaking a sweat! On top of all that, we both agreed that bass players deserve to be seen more, and what better to do this than create a hot – rod type metallic paint scheme for his, and every other 34″ Pioneer bass to follow it.

Leigh Fuge

YouTuber, Journalist, Professional Guitarist & Owner Of Right Notes Music Tuition

I first met Leigh at BBGF1, back in 2021 and instantly saw what a talented and versatile guitar player he is. I’m not the only who noticed Leighs talents, he’s written and recorded media for companies such as guitar.com, PMT and MusicRadar amongst others. To top this off he has his own dedicated YouTube channel featuring tons of reviews, gear demos and lessons and his own guitar tuition company – ‘Right Notes Music Tuition’. He’s currently on guitar duties with the number 1 Bee Gee’s tribute band in the world – ‘Jive Talk’, which is testament to Leighs skills as he could pretty much waltz into any band out there. By the way I have to say the ‘Jive Talkin’ show is exceptional, and I thoroughly recommend every get to see it when they can.

Leigh needed an extremely versatile guitar but didn’t want to stray too far from the classic looks, this led to him helping me finalise the design and options on the ‘Custom T’. On the face of it, it looks like any other T type out there, but it’s set apart by some modern design features like the forearm contour, tummy tuck, chamfered heel and lower hand cut, which is then complimented by the electronics. 4 way switching allows for the regular 3 way sounds you’d expect from a T type, but position 4 put both neck and bridge in series, giving Leigh more ‘oomph’ acting as an onboard boost, perfect for solos! Then there’s also the push pull switch which switches the phase on the neck pick up. This gives the ‘Custom T’ 5 very usable and very different tones. Perfect for the gigging musician, which we had in mind every step of the way.

Tim Daley

YouTuber & Professional Guitarist

Tim is an exceptionally talented guitar player with over 30 years of playing experience in a multitude of different situations. From playing in live bands and studio work right through to performing in dramatic performances and as part of an orchestra, he’s done it all! He’s also a degree level qualified teacher, not just a guitarist who decided to start teaching.

Although it’s easy to see Tims roots in blues, jazz & classic rock come through in his playing, just wait until he winds up a solo that wouldn’t be out of place on a G3 tour! The most astonishing thing is that he makes it look truly effortless when doing it – he really is the king of laid back shred. We are honoured that Tim has a 716-T in his extensive, and rather tasty guitar collection!

Jake Leigh

Repair To Ruin, CueCliché & YouTuber

I met Jake at British Boutique Guitar Festival #3, where we instantly hit it off and filmed a couple of videos together. Jake’s a very talented guitar player, and throws a mean water bottle (inside joke!). The track ‘Starlight’ from Repair To Ruin showcases not only Jakes talent on the guitar but as a frontman, and the energy the whole band exude is nothing short of infectious. After BBGF3 I leant Jake a Pioneer – P1 and this would come to be the platform from which the JL-1 was built upon. Here’s what he has to say…

‘When Lewis suggested that I borrowed his demo P1, I had no idea how much I was going to love it. I had a quick play on it at the British Boutique Guitar Festival, and could tell the build quality was amazing. But it wasn’t until I was able to spend some time with it in my own studio that I fully appreciated how incredible this guitar was. It’s a testament to Lewis’s original design that we made so few changes to my model. I love the slightly higher output custom Hartshorn pickups from Alchemy pickups and the aesthetic of the covered neck and uncovered bridge, a subtle nod to my Tremonti influence. We opted to lose the tone control, I usually sing and play guitar and because of this I like to keep my controls as simple as possible, a single volume suits me perfectly. I had seen a stunning blue finish that Lewis had recently used on a custom S Type build. I told him I loved it and then he showed me a really cool light blue to purple fade called Sea Of Tranquility that he had been working on for a while. I knew instantly that it had to be the colour. Body and headstock!’

Ruby Taylor

Yumi & The Weather

I was first introduced to Ruby and thus Yumi And The Weather by Rob Harvey (see below!) who was keen to tell me about this cool new band that he was asked to join. He sent me through some YouTube links to a live studio performance the band had done prior to Rob joining and to say I was captivated from first the first video would be an understatement. Ruby is a fantastic singer, songwriter & guitarist – her lyrics paint such vivid pictures in your mind as they tell the story of each song and her guitar lines will stay with you like a welcome ear worm! Whether its softer, arpeggio driven ‘Just this one thing’, the much heavier riff driven ‘It’s all in my head’ or synth guitar sounding solo in ‘Howl’, Ruby really knows how to perfectly blend etherial pop & rock. Yumi And The Weather are making some serious waves in the industry, with constant live shows and festival performances, as well as being played on leading radio stations like planet rock, Ruby needed a guitar that not only fit in visually with the band, but something that would hold up with a vigorous live performance schedule. We came up with the LT/RT-SG01, outfitted with Sunbear P90 Pick ups, a 25” scale but with a 7/8ths size body to make it much more comfortable, we added dual carbon fibre reinforcing rod either side of the truss rod to make sure her guitar would ready to rock every time she pulled it out the case.

Photo courtesy of XC Photography 

Rob Harvey-Powell

Yumi & The Weather

Rob is not only one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet, he’s a very accomplished guitar player with accreditation from BIMM and a recent back ground in guitar tuition. He can make the most complex progression and embellishments sound great and look like he’s got bags of time whilst doing so – a sign of a great player.

His playing encompasses everything from sparkling, crystal clean progressions through to searingly driven, soulful blues inspired riffs and he needed a guitar which could handle everything he wants to throw at it.

When we discussed the possibility of a build, Rob immediately said “can we do a Jazzmaster and can it have 3 P90’s, a contemporary vibrato unit and metallic orange paint?” I barely had time to say yes before we were on to discussing wood options and neck carves! Rob’s Custom JM features  a 1 piece black poplar body, a rock maple neck and AAA ebony fingerboard. The pick ups are 3 SB-P90’s from sunbear pick ups, Switchcraft, Gotoh & Omeg electronics, a Dusenberg Les Trem and of course THAT tangerine dream paint work!

Emma King

I’ve been lucky enough to know Emma for a while, and I’m incredibly honoured to have her as part of the LT Custom Guitars family.

Emma has received a 5 star album review, been an HMV recommended artist and has even shared a cover mount of Blues Magazine with the likes of Joe Bonamassa so we wanted to build something special for her.

The ‘King Tele’ – as it is affectionately named – is a very special guitar. This Classic ’T’ was designed from the ground up for Emma. Her requirements were: it had to be comfortable, light weight, look good and sound huge – challenge accepted! In order to reduce the weight we selected a 1 piece British poplar body, accompanied by a British Walnut top. In a wonderful twist of fate, every piece of walnut – neck, top, inset binding on the fretboard, pick up surround, cavity cover and even the fretboard markers – are from the same tree! A little bit of added LT Custom Guitar magic. To make the guitar smaller, and more comfortable for Emma we gave it a 24” scale length on a flamed maple fretboard as well as a 7/8th’s size body with specially designed, huge thinline chambers. This not only provides weight relief, but also helps create huge resonance in the guitar, which in turn is amplified by the Alchemy Pick Ups ‘Mercurial’ set. The complete set up allows Emma the freedom to produce well rounded blues tones in the neck, but also switch to a brighter, twang style twang sound you’d expect from the bridge. All in all the guitar was designed to fit the player and we think we matched them pretty well!

Danny Giles

Playing expressive riffs and tremendous solos with the tone of Walter Trout and the speed of Malmsteen, every note Danny plays is laden with passion and feeling. He’s one of the hardest working artists I know and he needed a guitar that would withstand his rigorous touring schedule with The DGB whilst matching his incredible playing style. The result: The DG-1. Affectionately named ‘The Duke’ the body is solid Korina – known for its extra warmth and added mid tones. The neck is highly figured baked maple featuring a slim tapered super soft ‘V’ and rolled shoulders for superior playing comfort and speed. The matching fingerboard, black pinstripe and over sized headstock really show this guitar to be a cut above the rest. Providing every tone from bell like cleans, to a snorting over wound PAF humbucker. The Duke features Danny’s very own signature Alchemy Pickups HSS set, designed and made for this very guitar, allowing Danny’s playing to cut clearly through any mix. The Gotoh locking machine heads and 510 tremolo system allow Danny to express himself to the fullest extent with his soaring lead lines. Finished in ‘pearl green envy’ – more commonly found on Lamborghini super cars, the DG-1 certainly has the ‘show’ to match it’s ‘go’.