Lowden Guitars given royal approval by Charles and Ed

Lowden Guitars given royal approval by Charles and Ed

8 December 2021

ACCLAIMED by pop royalty and real-life royalty, George Lowden’s guitars are known to be the best in the world.

The Prince of Wales recently made known his knowledge of and fascination with George’s guitars and Ed Sheeran reportedly likes to keep one handy in nearly every room of his house.

With Niall Horan of One Direction and Dubliner singer/songwriter Dermot Kennedy becoming the latest owners of the bespoke guitars, George’s company, Lowden Guitars, has just announced its latest collaboration with Sheeran.

To celebrate the release of his most recent album, Sheeran has teamed up with George, who founded the firm in 1974, to design and create a signature guitar worthy of music royalty. 

The Sheeran by Lowden Equals Edition guitar will also be available to the public to purchase, with a limited edition run of 3,000 available through Lowden’s global dealer network.

It’s the second joint project with Sheeran, following on from their range of more affordable guitars.

The latest achievement comes in the wake of George recently meeting the Prince of Wales at a Windsor Castle reception to mark Lowden Guitars winning the 2020 Queen’s Awards for Enterprise. 

He also launched a new range of limited edition guitars to mark his 70th birthday over the summer which features specifications chosen by George.

It’s all a far cry from when the renowned luthier first began to hand-make guitars for his own use.

He could never have known that his determination to make the best guitar would see his name travel around the world and be spoken of by royalty.

“There’s quite a lot of things that have happened that I never could have imagined. When I started out, I had no formal training in the manufacture of guitars,” explained George.

“In a way, that gave me the confidence to take some risks, innovate and produce an instrument that has a completely unique voicing.”

He found the Prince of Wales to be very interested in the guitars’ manufacture and may have even suggested a new development.

“We had a great chat and he asked quite a lot of questions about the wood, all kinds and how we found it,” said George.

“He was also very interested in dieback ash, asking about if it would be a very good way to use the trees as a lot have perished due to this disease.

“It wouldn’t be the best toned wood you could find but I’ve been thinking more about that since and wondering whether we could use it for guitar necks or not so we might do a little experiment to see if it works.”

From creating coveted instruments for top Irish and UK guitarists in the know, Lowden Guitars have become an international sales success — hence the Queen’s Award.

George explained: “The company is far bigger than I ever envisaged. In some ways it’s good but I never tried to expand the company and get the kind of growth we have enjoyed. It just kind of happened over the years as organic growth which has been great.”

His guitars tend to sell by word of mouth from musician to musician and the actual experience of playing a Lowden and relishing its distinct tones at first hand.

“Wherever in the world where we sell, we are still quite a niche, upper end company so the guitars are at the highest price level in all of the countries,” said George.

“It’s a natural process where people see the guitars for the first time. They go into a shop and then over a period of a few years the reputation builds within that country. Our presence also grows and then we move into more specialist guitar shops, so it all takes time.

“I remember as a teenager I was mad keen to get a Gibson 335 which I saw in Matchett’s shop window in Belfast all those years ago and I couldn’t afford it. 

“If something is really good, and the young player comes in and plays it but can’t afford it, it goes into his or her mind and later on they find a way to afford it.”

George says the Covid pandemic has not impact on sales, although it has had other consequences.

George said: “It didn’t impact on us for sales as our order book remained very firm but it was more to do with making the guitars as we had to completely re-organise the factory for better social distancing which was very expensive. 

“We had to close down the factory for a while in order to do that and more with people having to isolate it proved challenging.”