The Current's Guitar Collection: Jake Bugg, Patrick Eggle custom
by Luke Taylor
August 14, 2013
When Jake Bugg visited us in the studios of 89.3 The Current, we asked him about his guitar. Here's what he had to say:
What kind of guitar is this?
It's a Patrick Eggle. A guy made it for me; it's the only one in the world. It's made out of solid mahogany. His friend had a mahogany table that he was getting rid of. He goes, 'You guys know what you're doing? I'll have that.' And then he made this out of it. I love it.
How did you connect with him?
He just got in touch with my management and said 'I want to make a guitar for Jake.' I was a bit skeptical about it, but then it turned up and it's beautiful.
The fact it cost him like $60 to get the table is pretty cool. To think that somebody took the time to make that specifically for me — I can't even contemplate how much I appreciate that.
Anything else to say about it?
I use quite a few [guitars]. I just got a Gibson ES-390 electric guitar. I went to Memphis and I went to the little Gibson factory and had a tour. The guy was holding up pieces of wood and saying, 'That's going to sound amazing?' I mean, how can you tell that? He could just tell.
And then upstairs they had all these beautiful guitars they had made, ones they picked out for their showroom. I picked up this little red one and thought, 'Wow, that's amazing.' And then I put it down but I picked it back up again because it was amazing.
The guy came back and he said, [drawling] 'You like that gui-tar, boy?' And I said, 'Yes, it's amazing.' He goes, [drawling] 'You can have that gui-tar.'
And he just gave it to me. And I was like, 'You can't give me this!' and he said, 'No, you should just have it.'
So I've got this beautiful guitar that they picked out for their showroom and I just love it.
And I've got a '54 Squier Telecaster that I just bought from Nashville, Tennessee. I was just in a shop and I'd wanted a '50s Telecaster for ages. I didn't even need to plug it in. You could just feel the whole piece of wood vibrating. It's just a beautiful thing — it's got so much history, it's like a museum piece to me.
And I have a '66 Stratocaster I got from Texas as well, which I like very much. Same one as Jimi Hendrix would have played.
Watch for more additions to The Current's Guitar Collection each week.