ARTISTS
Some cool people that use our stuff...
Alex Ward
Our own Chief Product Demonstrator, Uk session guitarist Alex Ward began playing at the age of 13 before studying at the prestigious Leeds College of Music, graduating with First Class Honours and with the coveted award for Outstanding Performance. He was tutored by a number of highly regarded guitarists including Chris Webb (ex-Biomechanical).
Since graduating in 2011, Alex has been an in demand player both live and in the studio, working in numerous shows across the world in various outfits including leading theatre show ‘Women In Rock’ and hard rock band 'Leader Of Down' (the last band of Würzel from Motörhead).
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Alex has earned praise from well-known musicians such as Marty Friedman (ex-Megadeth), Rich Williams (Kansas), Chris Broderick (ex-Megadeth/Act Of Defiance) and Todd La Torre/Parker Lundgren (Queensrÿche), as well as garnering acclaim whilst working with Phil Campbell (Motörhead), Dennis Stratton (ex-Iron Maiden/Lionheart), Alex Forryan (Tony Hadley), Marc Rapson (Kim Wilde) and Dave Evans (Billy Bragg).
Here’s what Alex has to say about Eternal:
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"After years of playing a wide variety of guitars I finally found in Dave a luthier who I can trust implicitly and who understands exactly what I’m looking for in a guitar. Speaking with Dave really opened my eyes as to what specifically I love about a guitars tone and feel and with seemingly no effort he has produced for me the instrument of my dreams both in playability and pickup tone (with many to follow I’m sure!). I look forward to playing my custom Eternal more so than anything else I have played and it’s a true pleasure to air it at shows and in the studio."
Sam Bell
Sam is a Session Guitarist, Demonstrator and Educator. Head of Guitar at WaterBear College of Music and Writer in UK Tech Metal Band ‘Mask of Judas’. He also writes his own solo instrumental material and creates guitar related content for YouTube. He's been playing Guitar most of his life, influences ranging from Hendrix, Carlton to Gilbert.
Find out more www.sambellguitar.com
Here's what Sam has to say about Eternal:
“I am blown away by the high quality build, exceptional playability, amazing tone and response of Eternal Guitars. They look incredible! The ageing is unique and genuine, there's no excuse not to pick one up! Dave has opened my ears and eyes with his exceptional Guitars, his knowledge and ability is outstanding and he is incredibly supportive of all the customers and artists he works with. I am very proud to be part of the family playing these exceptional instruments.”
Pete Callard
Pete graduated as ‘Outstanding Student of the Year’ from Musicians' Institute in Hollywood, California. Since returning to England his many credits include Lionel Richie, Queen, Annie Lennox, The Bee Gees, Ronan Keating, Will Young, Shirley Bassey and Chaka Khan, alongside numerous TV shows, films and recordings. He also leads his own jazz quartet and trio and is a member of the electronica outfit Shpongle, with whom he’s recorded several albums and performed around the world. In the guitar community he’s perhaps best known for his regular columns in Guitar Techniques, Guitarist and Total Guitar magazines, and was for many years a tutor at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford.
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www.facebook.com/petecallardguitar
Here's what Pete has to say about Eternal:
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"Dave Walsh's expertise, craftsmanship and attention to detail are unparalleled - he's the only person I trust with my most treasured instruments. He builds truly exceptional guitars and pickups, none better than my stunning 'Triple J' guitar and custom pickup set. I've used them on recordings, films, TV shows, radio broadcasts and gigs and I know I can rely on them to always do the job, inspire me, and invariably pick up admiring glances on the way..."
John Gregson
A freelance guitarist living in London, John is busy playing live and recording with a variety of projects and artists.
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His introduction to Dave Walsh & Eternal Guitars came whilst working in the orchestras at Chichester Festival Theatre, whilst on shows such as ‘Caroline, Or Change’ and ‘Love Story’.
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Chair-holder on West End shows ‘The Bodyguard’, ‘Love Story’ and ’The Pajama Game’.
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He has performed as a dep player on shows such as ‘Matilda’, ‘Motown’, ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ and ‘Bat Out of Hell’.
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Before moving to London, John worked as a teacher at The International Guitar Festival (teaching jazz, rock and metal classes), a specialist tutor at The Southwest Music School, and Wells Cathedral School.
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John’s orchestral work includes touring with The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, live film performances with The Aurora Orchestra, ‘In Concert’ with Jason Robert Brown, Kerry Ellis, and Sam Bailey, and the premiere of Howard Goodall’s Oratio ‘Every Purpose Under the Heaven’.
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As a recording guitarist, John has played multifarious stringed instruments on Hadley Fraser’s solo album ‘Just Let Go’, the original London cast recording of Howard Goodall’s ‘Love Story’, Alexei Sayle’s BBC Imaginary Sandwich Bar, and the film soundtrack of Alan Rickman’s ‘A Little Chaos’.
Most importantly, he is the owner of three Eternal Guitars: Baxter, Colin and Eddie - the Comedy Dogs Triptych.
Here's what John has to say about Eternal:
“I first met Dave and a batch of his Eternal guitars whilst playing in the big band for The Pajama Game in Chichester. Instantly smitten with his approach to custom instruments and his deep knowledge of luthiery, I’ve since taken home 3 beautiful guitars that have seen much combat on stages over the place!
Designing a guitar with Dave is an absolute joy, he really takes time to work with the player to ensure that the playing comfort (my ideal necks are *thick*!), the pickups and the aesthetics (proud recipient of the ‘Gregson Cream’ paint) are top-notch.”
Lewis Harding
One of the finest guitarists in the UK, Lewis has been professional musician for over fifteen years in a career which has taken him from his Chichester roots to Maida Vale and Wembley, and from New Zealand to Canada. Lewis has also featured in the National Guitar Show and Guitarist Magazine.
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www.facebook.com/LewisHardingGuitarUK/
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Here’s what Lewis has to say about Eternal:
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“I have been playing Eternal guitars for years now, and I am still wowed at how good they sound every gig. There is something really special about a custom built guitar that delivers at such a high standard”
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Don Richardson
One of the country's finest and in-demand bass players, Don has played and recorded for many top artists including Jason Robert Brown, Seal, Renee Fleming, Joshua Bell, Paul Carrick, Bryan Ferry, Spice Girls,
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Holy Johnston, Petula Clark, Charlie Fink, Kerry Ellis & Brian May, Eric Clapton, Robert Palmer, James Brown, John Parr, Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriquez, Andrea Bocelli, Jon Lord, Jimmy Page & Dave Coverdale, Elvis on screen, Michael Nyman, Lighthouse family, Everything but the Girl, Michael Ball & Alfie Boe and Dame Shirley Bassey.
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Recently Don has been working with Sting on his Last Ship musical and Conor McPherson on Girl from the North Country, with music by Bob Dylan.
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His west end theatre credits include Company, Girl from the North Country, 42nd street, Groundhog Day, Sinatra, Les Mis, Shrek, Wicked, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Made in Dagenham and Legally Blonde.
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He plays regularly with the BBC concert orchestra; concerts include Proms in the Park, Olivier Awards, Frank Zappa 200 Motels, Michael Feinstein and various ‘Friday night is music night' broadcasts.
Here's what Don has to say about his Eternal “Anabel-Lee” Custom P-Bass.
"I first came across an Eternal P-Bass in a guitar shop in Chichester when I was on a break from a concert at the Festival Theatre, so I didn’t have long. I found the bass to be so comfortable easy to play and with the most amazing real vintage feel and sound just like my old 62 P bass.
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So, I asked Dave to make me a custom P bass with a Jazz bass neck, through-body stringing and to have luminous side dots. I and many sound engineers are totally blown away with it. Recently I was working with Level 42’s sound engineer (and very good bass player) on a tour and he called me over to the front desk and said look at this “no EQ whatsoever and it’s so even all the way up the neck”.... I went for a cup of tea and left him playing away."
Chris Cox
Chris works as a session guitarist in the UK and Europe, playing in a range of bands at festivals, corporate events, functions and studio work. He currently fronts his own projects that work primarily in the UK but have also taken him to Switzerland, Norway, Spain, Holland, Italy and France. He also teaches in his spare time and moonlights playing drums and bass for function bands when given the opportunity.
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Here's what Chris has to say about Eternal:
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'I’ve known Dave and the team for a few years and had them work on pretty much all of my non-eternal guitars, so when I decided I wanted a new “S-Type” I didn’t have to even consider other options. His guitars are easily up at the highest end of quality in comparison to any well known brands custom shop offerings, most likely better, and the customer service and after sale support is second to none. Being able to have custom wound pickups made to measure was invaluable in finding the voice I wanted from my guitar and the overall fit and finish is spot on. I rarely play my other guitars.'
Jamie West-Oram
Signature 'Fixxer' Pickup Set
This pickup set has been developed specifically for Jamie West-Oram from the incredible band The Fixx. Although Jamie is best known for his Schecter ‘Woody’ and Suhr guitars that use EMG pickups, he has used a variety of guitars over the years to create his signature stereo chorus sound, and most recently has been using a stock Fender Custom Shop ’62 reissue.
Jamie has been a regular customer at Eternal Guitars for set-up and fret work for a few years, and when he brought in his custom shop Strat recently for a re-fret we began to discuss pickups. Jamie had been reasonably happy with tone of the Custom Shop pickups that came as standard and they were actually pretty nice, but once we began discussing tone it became clear that as good as the pickups were, in an ideal world Jamie would prefer if they could do offer a little more oomph.
I felt confident that we could improve on the stock units and perhaps offer a little extra spice without sacrificing the overall vintage vibe of the guitar. Jamie’s main concern was output – the Custom Shop units were vintage repro and they were suitably low output, so Jamie asked if we could develop a pickup set that would retain the clarity and brightness of tone he needed for his signature sound, but add a little more meat and presence.
For us the early sixties Strat pickups were some of the best ever made so we started with our own very popular ‘Timeless ‘60s Style’ Strat pickups as a template, and then tweaked magnet heights to offer a decent string to string balance but retained a vintage stagger (crucial for that inherent Stratty-ness) and then began to experiment with different windings. We used forbon flatwork with our own unbevelled Alnico 5 pole magnets and vintage gauge 42 AWG coil wire with cloth covered hook ups.
The resultant set is balanced tonally but not calibrated in the usual way. After a little more R&D we settled on a spec that set boosted the output on the bridge and neck units but keep the middle one vintage spec wound to ensure that the mix positions retained clarity and didn’t muddy up which was particularly important to Jamie.
Jamie was very pleased with the pickups and although the original plan was to load them on to a spare pickguard so he could swap between our pickup set and the originals, he liked ours so much that we abandoned that plan. In fact he loved them so much that he has named the set ‘The Fixxers’ and has recorded the fantastic video below demonstrating the tones on offer.