George Lowden is a guitar maker, luthier, based in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. He constructs acoustic guitars, steel and nylon strung.
History
Early life
In 1951 George Lowden was born in
Belfast Northern Ireland.
Company
In 1976 - 79 his first guitars with
A-frame bracing and the dolphin voicing profiles were made in 1976 and in many ways have established the Lowden guitar’s sound.
The first Irish studio/workshop, in 6a High Street, Bangor employed 4 trainee guitar makers, Colin ‘Dusty’ Miller, Frank Kernaghan, Sam Irwin and Michael Hull. It produced approximately 100 guitars during this period, which can be identified by small blue rectangular labels.
Beginning in 1980, copies of his guitars were made in Japan by a small group of luthiers near Nagoya.
In 1985, as a result of the rise in interest for all electronic instruments in music, sales of acoustic instruments slumped worldwide and the owners of the Japanese factory decided to close it and move production of Lowden guitars to a larger factory where other brands were made. George was concerned about this outcome and decided to try setting up a new factory in Ireland. By way of very little capital and through the help of an investor (David Jebb); George rented a building in Bangor, Co. Down and began to employ and train new craftsmen.
1986 Micky Uchida, (a Pierre Bensusan fan and guitar maker himself from Japan) arrived in Ireland to stay with the Lowden family and asked George if he could come to work for him. Micky had been trained in classical guitar building but was interested in learning about steel strings. A short time after his arrival in Ireland with his wife Izumi, George offered Micky the factory manager's position after observing his obvious talent as a craftsman and luthier.
Lowden Guitars of this period were labelled with a slightly smaller version of the current oval label and approximately 500-600 guitars were made in each of the first three years then approximately 1,000 per year thereafter.
A New Chapter
Eventually in 1988, the company ran out of funds. George was uncomfortable continuing with an under-funded business unable to meet its commitments, and decided to close it down. On being informed of this, the Company’s bank asked George to agree to
receivership (‘
chapter 11’), as they believed that the company could be sold with George’s agreement for future co-operation.
A group of local people put together a consortium, headed by Andy Kidd, (whose background was as a recording engineer and record producer) to buy the company out of receivership. George Lowden signed a licensing agreement with this new company. This ensured that he retained personal ownership of the Lowden designs and trademark and enabled him to provide quality control and new designs while remaining independent from the company. The model range at that time was much more limited than it is now but the beginnings of a dealership network had already been established in parts of Europe and the USA.
France
1989 George moved with his wife and children to France and worked as an independent luthier designing and building his new range of
classical guitars as well as his steel strings. During this time, he also designed new models for the company, and checked quality on periodic visits back to Ireland. He built, as he still does, between 10 and 15 instruments each year for individual musicians who commission a personal guitar.
New Designs…
Some time later George continued his implementation of new designs by introducing the ‘
Jazz’ nylon string electric acoustic.
In order to satisfy an increasing demand for more ornate instruments, Andy then asked George to design a series of guitars with more inlays, as the ‘Standard’ guitars were too plain for some musicians' taste. Thus was born the ‘Premier’, or “35” series with George Lowden’s version of "flash". This series has been the most successful of all the Lowden designs with their figured exotic woods and inlays combined with selected grades of soundboard tonewoods.
Another Chapter: Change of ownership
In 1998, the acoustic guitar market had begun to flourish during the 90's. In November 1998, keen to participate in a progressive plan to develop the business further, George Lowden, along with the majority shareholders set up a new holding company to buy a controlling interest in the Lowden Guitar Company. That holding company was called Sarcon 54 Ltd.
In June 2000, differences had begun to develop between the directors of the company. George decided to resign as a director. He would continue to influence quality solely through the provisions of the design license first established in 1989, whilst continuing to build his own custom guitars in his workshop at home.
In August 2000 to September 2001, a series of decisions were made within the Licensee Company (the Lowden Guitar Company) without reference to George, concerning guitar specifications and quality control. George discovered the effects of these decisions later during visits to the factory, and this severely damaged his confidence that the integrity of his guitar designs and specifications would be maintained or indeed that the terms of the license were being respected. After many failed attempts to establish alternative dispute resolution processes over a period of some 11 months, George served a high court writ for what he believed were serious breaches of contract. The company denied all charges, and after more than 18 months of legal action including a counterclaim by the company and additional claims by George, the matter was finally settled by agreement at the court door. The aim of this agreement was to allow a way forward for both parties by limiting further damage and providing a basis for separation.
The directors of the Lowden Guitar Company changed the name of its holding company from "Sarcon (54) Ltd" to "Avalon Guitars Ltd" and launched the highly successful range of Avalon Guitars, designed by in-house luthiers including Ernie McMillen and Sam Irwin. At no time was George Lowden invited to participate in any way in these guitars.
Looking to the Future
Lowden guitars are currently handcrafted in a small workshop in Downpatrick under the direct supervision of George.
Eric Clapton, Jan Akkerman, Vince Gill, Pierre Bensusan, Alex de Grassi, Peter Finger, Nick Harper, Don Ross, Richard Thompson, the late Eric Roche, Paul Brady, Lee Rogers, and Foy Vance use Lowden Guitars.
References
George Lowden
The Eric Clapton website has an article about a charity auction in 2004 held by Christies where Eric Clapton raised $7.5 million by selling his guitars. Lot 32, His 1996 George Lowden O32, guide price of $5,000-$7,000 sold for $41,825. Read it here.
the late Eric Roche does a run down of his equipment starting with Lowden Guitars.
Berkowitz, Kenny; "Lowden Guitars", Acoustic Guitar March 1999, issue 79,
Bensusan, Pierre has retired his jumbo S22 Lowden guitar after 25 years of service, and is using a new F body Lowden Pierre Bensusan Signature model starting 2009.
de Grassi, Alex; answers questions about his music and equipment
Ohlschmidt, Jim; " Louise Taylor]", Acoustic Guitar, issue 98, dated February 2001, dealt with Richard Thompsons equipment,
Category:1951 births
Category:Guitar makers
Category:Guitar manufacturing companies
Category:Luthiers
Category:Alumni of Sullivan Upper School
Category:Living people
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