A Guitar Is Born: Building Number One

Press release
Source: Modern Music Publications

Guitar luthier John Page, best known for his leadership of the Fender Custom Shop, which he co-founded in 1987, has started production of a new line of electric guitars called the P-1. In September of 2006, the guitar maker announced his re-entry into instrument building after an almost ten year hiatus following his retirement from Fender and unveiled the P-1 prototype. Page, who now lives in Oregon where he pursues a career creating functional art, will limit the number of instruments produced per year to well under 20 and has already sold the entire run scheduled for 2007.

In its “stock” form, the P-1 has a Swamp Ash body with internal acoustic chambers, a five piece, laminated neck of Hard Rock Maple and Honduran Mahogany, and an Indian Rosewood fretboard. The peghead is overlayed with figured Maple and black veneers and adorned with John’s distinctive signature. John called on long time friend and fellow guitar builder, John Suhr, for his pickup expertise, using Suhr’s SSV Humbucking pickup in the rhythm position, and his Broadcaster pickup in the lead, “Chunky Crunch” is added to the instrument. The pickguard is available either in plastic Bakelite or anodized aluminum, with the latter being the original design material. The guitar also features Sperzel non-locking tuners, a 6-saddle American bridge, master volume and tone controls, and a five-position switch allowing both Humbucking and single-coil splitting options. The guitar is also available with an interior form-fitting case by another long time friend, G&G Quality Case.

A new article series by John Page titled "Building Number One" on his Modern Guitars magazine column, Functional Art, documents the building of the first production model, #001. The series features step-by-step photos with text, illustrating the process by which a luthier builds an electric guitar.

Since the article contain 17 images, both broadband and dial-up versions of the first article of the series are provided:

"Building Number One": High speed (broadband) connection

"Building Number One": Low speed (dial-up) connection

For more information about John Page and the P-1, please visit:

John Page Guitars
Functional Art

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