We Get Letters

This letter comes from Southern California custom luthier Joe Till, of Till Guitars

“My main goal when I started out building was to build a better guitar than I could ever afford to buy. That turned out to an easy goal. So I began to focus on building a guitar that best exploited my own style of playing. I’m a blues player - and proud of it! I do a lot of single-note leads with lots of bending. And I have a choppy rhythm style. I quickly discovered the remarkable combination of the Seymour Duncan SH-1 ‘59 Humbucker in the neck position and an SH-4 JB at the bridge.

The semi-hollow construction of my guitars gives them a decidedly midrange tone. And I can solo all night with the neck position pickup only. But knowing that snarly JB is just waiting to be ignited can really add a new level of emotion to my playing. And, of course, when I roll off the volume just a tad, that JB becomes as clean and clear as a Tele®.

Now that I'm comfortable taking on custom orders, I'm turning my attention from my own style of playing to the varied styles of my clients. I've rededicated myself to the pursuit of building the best, most beautiful guitars imaginable. It has never bothered me that Seymour Duncan's name appears on my guitars two to three times as often as my own. Every Seymour Duncan pickup I ever installed brought my work to life."

You can check out Joe's beautiful-but-affordable custom creations at www.tillguitars.com.