George Lowden: I still get a thrill when I hear one of our guitars being played

“My father and mother were school teachers and both my sisters are honours graduates. I was the black sheep, I left school at 17 after my O’ Levels. I just wanted to get working. I wasn’t really interested in academia, so therefore to receive the honorary degree was a surprise, but a welcome one. My dad died a couple of years ago at 93 and he would have been absolutely tickled pink.”

Born in Bangor in 1951, George Lowden may not have followed a formal educational path, but the luthier is top of the class when it comes to creating outstanding acoustic guitars and solid-body electric guitars of staggering quality.

But George's very first guitar, which he made with his friend Alan when he was 10, was rather more rudimentary, with nails for frets, fishing lines for strings and a square sound box.

“Alan’s father was a boat builder in Groomsport and he helped us make that very primitive guitar. We ran around the garden pretending to be the Beatles – it was great. I wish I had kept it, it would have been fun just as a curiosity.

“That was the first adventure with the guitar and I had another go when I was 18, only that was with an electric guitar. I couldn’t afford to buy one so I decided to try and make one. It was more playable, but it wasn’t great. And then it went on from that.”

George’s original passion for guitars was more about the music, than the craft.

"As a teenager and in my early 20s I was very much into bands like Cream and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Chicago, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix.”

He taught himself to play, but is modest about his skills.

“I probably should have got lessons, but me being me I just tried to pick it up myself and that shows now because my guitar playing skills are very poor. Obviously in my work I meet a lot of really great players, both local and international, and therefore I realise I could never get anywhere close to any of them so I don’t really try, I just enjoy listening.”

Armed with some basic tools, wood and a booklet on the subject, George set about trying to make guitars professionally in 1974. After a few years honing his craft, he experienced his first flurry of sales when a friend studying in France took one of his guitars to a store in Paris. Impressed, the retailer placed a monthly order, allowing George to open his first workshop in his native Bangor.

But ​while the likes of Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody have performed using Lowden guitars in recent years, it was difficult to attract the attention of big name acts back then.

"When I started out there were very few famous musicians who actually came here because of the troubles, but then from the 1990s onwards when the guitars became better known throughout the world, a lot of famous musicians started to see them and that all helped.”

​Today, Lowden Guitars is a classic, globally-recognised brand, crafting guitars from its Downpatrick-based workshops

"Two of my sons are very much involved in the business. My elder son Daniel is in charge of quality control. My middle son Aaron is a director of the company and I believe that he will be taking the business on when I do finally hang up my boots.”

But one senses George won’t be spending his days on the golf course anytime soon.

“I don’t think I’ll ever really retire. It’s quite difficult because I am so used to being there and working with everybody.”

Lowden Guitars hit the headlines in 2019 when the company formed a collaboration with singing star Ed Sheeran to create a new range of acoustic guitars called Sheeran by Lowden. The Shape Of You singer-songwriter said at the time his aim was to make affordable quality guitars to encourage more young people to play music. It’s clearly been a happy union for George and Lowden.

"Ed’s very easy to work with. He’s a good guy.”

And George admits that ​listening to a musician, famous or not, play one of their instruments is still “a big thrill”.

Whilst Lowden has a team of skilled luthiers, George is still hands-on in the business, particularly in the production of its limited edition Master Series guitar, which takes about six to eight weeks to make and has a year-long waiting list.

"We only build about one or two a month and they are built by myself, my two sons and three or four of the very best guys in the team.”

Just like a writer seeking out solitude on a retreat, George goes away for a week on his own once in a while to design a new model.

"If I go away and be completely on my own then I can focus on the work. I first did that 15 or 20 years ago. I went to the north coast and designed whatever acoustic it was at the time and I’ve kept that tradition up.”

Since its inception the company has made some 26,000 guitars - with some ending up as far away as Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand – and they can sell for eye-watering amounts.

“The most expensive was probably our number 20,000th which we made specifically. The whole back of the guitar was inlaid with all sorts of exotic materials – it was called the Genesis guitar and the inlays depicted creation from Adam and Eve right through to modern times. I think it sold for about $40,000.

“The Master Series are typically around £25k. We do get the occasional order for something more expensive, but the majority of the Lowden guitars would sell for between £4-6K.”

There is a romance and mystery that often enshrouds the guitar as an instrument of musical expression, but what sets a Lowden guitar apart from mass-produced models?

"In mass production you have to have a criteria that you stick to ridgedly for every single guitar and there’s no account taken of the individual properties of each piece of wood. Whereas when you are in a limited production, which we are in Lowden, we make about 25 guitars per week, you take the time to pay individual attention to each guitar.

“And also the sheer amount of time that goes into a limited production guitar – we spend about 40 man hours per guitar, whereas in the Sheeren range, it’s not exactly mass production, but we would probably only spend about 10 man hours.”

There is also, of course, the wood. Acoustic properties of wood vary from species to species. And it is here George is an expert, citing the many exotic and expensive timbers the company uses, including Indian rosewood, cocobola, a rare and exquisite wood found in Central America, Alpine Spruce and sinker redwood – wood that has been reclaimed from the depths of Northern California rivers, where they’ve lain in many cases for more than a century.

“All the woods give slightly different tonal results, that’s part of the pleasure in making guitars at this level. You have a sense of expectation with each guitar and you wonder if it is going to do what you really hope it does - the wood plays a big part in that.

“I can often tell if I am listening to a guitar, without seeing it, if it is one of my own. There is a characteristic tone which is across the range, but at the same time each guitar is definitely unique as well.”

After decades in the industry, it’s clear George isn’t content to just strum along, there’s still a passion for progress and innovation.

“We have new models coming out for January. We are also doing some limited editions for Ed (Sheeren). There’s plenty of new projects going on all the time.”

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