Seymour Duncan Artist Nick Perri (Shinedown, Perry Farrell, Silvertide, Matt Sorum, SINAI) has just released his latest line of guitars under the Perri Ink. Guitars brand. The Anthem is made distinctive by it’s hand-made Perri Ink. Cartel American Flag pickguard and its use of a Callaham bridge. This, combined with it’s eye catching natural wood finish makes the Anthem a visually striking guitar that sounds fantastic too.

Introducing the PERRI INK. “Anthem”; a new benchmark for PERRI INK. Custom Guitars. It features an in-house custom made black & white American Flag pickguard, a timeless design, and top-shelf components like a Callaham Tremolo, Kluson tuners, and Seymour Duncan Custom Shop pickups. This guitar stands out from a mile away; both sonically & ascetically. Take pride in this great land and let people know what you stand for. Handmade, American made, and built with love.

Features:

• American Made
• Solid Alder body
• Custom finish
• One piece Quarter sawn Maple neck
• 25 1/2″ scale
• 22 medium-jumbo frets
• 12″ radius
• Black dot inlays
• Seymour Duncan Custom Shop pickups (Seymour Duncan Custom Shop ’78 Model in the bridge, Alnico Pro II middle and neck)
• Master volume, Master tone, 5-Way pickup selector switch
• Custom Pickguard
• Callaham vintage style Bridge
• Graph Tech TUSQ Nut
• Vintage style Kluson 6-Inline tuners
• Strap-Locks
• Handmade, Built to Order w/ Certificate of Authenticity

I asked Nick a few questions about his beginnings as a guitar builder, about his line of hand-made guitars, and specifically the new Anthem:
What prompted you to start tinkering with guitars? What was it about production models that just didn’t do it for you?
I started tinkering the day I got my first electric guitar. I was 12 and it was an awesome time. My Dad taught me how to solder and it was on!
At first, it was “how could I wire a guitar and pickup set to do crazy things?”, but as I got older and started playing music professionally it became all about tone, convenience, and simplicity.
As time went on I started doing more and more, until about five years ago I was buying stock guitars and literally gutting them and throwing everything away minus the neck and body.
I would redo frets, all the electronics, paint, pickups, and obviously the setups and final playing feel. At one point my wife was like, “You should just start building your own.” And with that PERRI INK. Custom Guitars was born.
What are your goals with building your own line of guitars?
As far as overall motivation for building my own, it again goes back to being a professional musician, and what I have come to expect from an instrument.
I’m really anal about the way a guitar plays, feels, and most importantly sounds. There is no room for mediocrity. Most stock production guitars are build with an overall concern for cost. Which makes sense, but not in a good way. Back in the 50’s and 60’s guitars were made using parts that sounded the best, NOT with parts that were the least expensive.
And it’s the same thing with cars, bikes, appliances, pretty much everything. The golden era of American manufacturing is long long gone, sadly. And so it is my objective – with everything I do – to create products and offer services of QUALITY first.
I never think about spending a few less dollars to use a part that will be “OK.” Screw that. I only think about using the best parts for tone, feel, and longevity.
Do you make your guitar bodies and necks, etc, all in house, and do you use any CNC machinery, or is it all strictly hand-made?
I actually have a business partner in New Jersey who cuts me bodies and necks, one by one, for my exact specifications. One day I will do it here, but I don’t quite have the room yet. My shop is packed!
When I receive a body and neck, it’s game time at our facility. I do frets, finishes, routing, mounting, wiring, pickups, etc. I also have a full machine shop here and so I cut all the custom pickguards and backplates by hand from 16 gauge mild steel.
We just got a 1920s lathe and so all models moving forward will have handmade strap buttons and control knobs as well.
I try and make as much by hand as possible, and every year as we grow so does our ability to do more and more. I’d really like to try making my own tuners soon.
How do you go about choosing the parts like the bridge, tuners, nut, electronics, etc, that you use on your guitars?
My prototyping process takes months per model because I try everything before committing to the final pieces. After playing for 16 years and owning over 100 other guitars, I have a pretty decent knowledge of stuff that works and stuff that doesn’t.
People have tried selling me on lots of gear over the years, and hell, I’ll give anything a shot once, but after that if it’s not killing me it’s on to the next thing.
As far as the components I choose for PERRI INK. Guitars, it’s all about quality, playability, and TONE!!!!!!!!!!!
What drove you to build the new Anthem?
When we opened the PERRI INK. Cartel retail store in Hollywood, the first product we had was this black & white American Flag t-shirt, and like five other designs as well. Within a few days, all the Flag shirts were gone, and none of the others, haha! This is just a natural part of business: some things work and some don’t.
Anyway, all this time later and that American Flag shirt is still our best seller. So when I was tossing ideas around for the next model, my good buddy and tattoo artist here at PERRI INK, Adam Daniel, suggested replicating the black and white flag on a pickguard. I loved the idea, and spent the next month trying to figure out how to make it. Once I did, and put it up next to a guitar, it was obvious to everyone in the room that was it! So I basically designed the rest of it around the pickguard.
As far as the bridge goes, I wanted the best vintage style tremolo around, and everyone knows Callaham is the best. In fact, he makes ’em better then they ever were originally! Not only does it look great, it stays in tune! Unbelievable.
I also decided to distress all the hardware before final assembly as well. I have quite a few techniques for this, and I’m really happy with the way it turned out. It looks played, but not abused.
For pickups, again, I went with tried and true Seymour Duncans. I’ve been with SD as an artist for over a decade, and Seymour and Evan Skopp came into PERRI INK. when we first opened to check out the shop. Their seal of approval was an honor to say the least.
For tones, I wanted a vintage hot vibe that had the ability to get twangy, dirty, and straight rock when needed. I chose Alnico II Pro single coils for the neck and middle because they are warmer than the SSL’s and work better with maple fretboards, in my opinion. I decided to go with my personal favorite humbucker, the Custom Shop ’78 Model, for the bridge position. All around, it’s the perfect humbucker. Think the perfect vintage hot PAF that can go anywhere you take depending on your attack and amp choice. And who doesn’t love vintage style Klusons!

Any hints as to what your next model may be like?
Sure, why not. It’s gonna be the ultimate players guitar. Like it’s been around the world a few times, and is the “go to guitar” night after night. I’m also really excited about the tones I’ve been getting out of it during the prototyping process. It sounds just as good as a 40 year old vintage guitar. But actually, all my guitars do. Just without the price tag = )