Superstar Ed Sheeran teams up with Downpatrick businessman

Superstar Ed Sheeran teams up with Downpatrick businessman

30 January 2019

IF there was ever a guitar dream team, then the new collaboration between Ed Sheeran and Downpatrick-based Lowden Guitars is it.

The news that the globally acclaimed singer/songwriter and the master guitar maker from Co Down have teamed up to produce a new range of guitars took the music world by storm earlier this week when it was announced at a major industry conference in California.

The new range, Sheeran by Lowden, is aimed to inspire a fresh crop of players — and hopefully younger musicians — by playing one of the most revered names in music.

Now being recognised in the same league like classic music brands such as Gibson and Fender guitar, the new range will be priced at an affordable range of £595-£975 for such a quality instrument.

The collaboration will cement Lowden’s growing international reputation.

and it’s a major affirmation for founder George Louden who handmade his first professional guitar in 1974. 

A 10 year-old George made a guitar with a couple of friends with the help of his boat-builder father from Groomsport.

George confirmed that there should be new additions to the 36-strong workforce at Louden Guitars, which is soon to move to new premises.

“Our new premises are located between Crossgar and Saintfield. These premises will be our new premises with dedicated areas for Lowden acoustic guitars and new electric guitar ranges,” said George.

“We are currently planning out the logistics of our move from Down Business Park. This will require attention to detail and be orchestrated stage by stage to minimise any disruption to our ability to complete and ship our guitars to waiting customers.”

Lowden Guitars successfully managed to keep news that it was working with Sheeran — one of the world’s biggest music artist, who has sold 45 million albums and has had more than 48 billion streams — under wraps for considerable time. Sheeran’s influence around the world is extensive — his 2017 hit ‘Shape of You’ is the most streamed song on Spotify to date.

Stars like Eric Clapton, Paul Brady, Luka Bloom and Richard Thompson are all Lowden devotees. Sheeran got his first Louden as a gift from Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody in 2013.

Lightbody commissioned George to make a guitar especially for Sheeran, which turned out to be the Wee Louden which he plays on stage and on studio recordings.

Sheeran has since built a personal collection of Lowden guitars which appear on stage with him often, including Lowden’s electric guitar, the GL-10.

He said: “I grew up wanting Lowden guitars as all of my favourite artists played Lowden guitars. But a starting price for a Lowden was three grand. When you’re 12, three grand may as well be a million pounds. 

“The dream of any kid who likes music is to have a guitar and the dream of any musician is to have a signature guitar.”

George realised that he needed to make a range that was something special and revealed that he sought inspiration from the North Coast.

“Every guitar that I design and make I have to feel afterwards proud of it, I have to feel that I have achieved something with it. That it’s not just a normal guitar,” he explained. 

“The main aim was to design and make a guitar here at an affordable price noticeably better than anything else at that price range. So I went up to the North Coast and spent a week at the Giants Causeway walking and thinking and drawing. Then having designed it, of course I sent it off to Ed and the rest is history.”

Sheeran has previously bemoaned that fewer youngsters seem to be interested in guitar-playing these days.

“There are fewer guitar bands and fewer artists using guitars now, and not as many kids picking up guitars,” he added.

“That is something I would like to change by getting these great quality guitars, made in Ireland, into kids’ hands and encouraging them to learn and progress.”

The Sheeran by Lowden acoustic guitar range features eight individual models across two small body sizes familiar from the Lowden range, known as the S and the Wee Lowden.

The guitars have been designed for uncompromising tone and playability and are made using sustainably-sourced wood including naturally fallen trees and reclaimed spruce.

George says that the new range combines years of hand-crafting and traditional luthier methods with new construction technology.

“It’s taking everything I have learnt over the last 45 years, cherry-picking from that a few traditional methods of working by hand and introducing those into a whole series of new groundbreaking procedures for guitar making so that the end result is a guitar made in Ireland but one which really sings and which I hope inspires many young musicians and older ones as well,” he added.

The first orders should be shipped in March. The range will be available to order through select music merchants. To find a dealer near you, visit www.sheeranguitars.com.