Patrick James Eggle is a British guitar designer and
luthier
A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...
.
![Patrick James Eggle Portrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Patrick_James_Eggle_Portrait.jpg)
The company he founded in the 1990s, Patrick Eggle Guitars, first based in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
and then in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, is known for designing and releasing such guitar ranges as the Berlin (1991) and the Fret King Espirit (1998). The company was producing 2,000 electric and acoustic guitars per year by the mid-1990s.
[Bonds, Ray (ed.) (2006). “The illustrated directory of guitars.” Barnes & Noble/Salamander Books, p. 442.]
Eggle’s guitars have been used by artists such as
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. I ...
,
Brian May
Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...
,
Bruce Watson,
Bill Nelson
Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flor ...
,
Midge Ure
James Ure (born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s ...
, Tony Remy, Oliver Leiber, and
Ali
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...
and
Robin Campbell.
On 11 April 2014, the "JS Berlin Legend" made for
Rory Gallagher
William Rory Gallagher ( ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Due to his virtuosic playing, but relative lack of fame compared to some others, he has been referred to as "the greatest ...
sold for £25,000 at auction.
Eggle left the company in 1994, and moved to the USA to begin trading independently building acoustic and archtop guitars. In 2004 he returned to the UK, and started producing acoustic guitars from workshops in
Oswestry
Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.
The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
under the brand name Patrick James Eggle Guitars. Notable artists of these guitars include guitarists such as
Jake Bugg
Jake Bugg (born Jake Edwin Charles Kennedy on 28 February 1994) is an English singer-songwriter. His self-titled debut album, ''Jake Bugg'', some of which was co-written with songwriter Iain Archer, was released in October 2012 and reached numb ...
and
Frank Turner
Francis Edward Turner (born 28 December 1981), is an English Punk rock, punk and Folk music, folk singer-songwriter from Meonstoke, Hampshire. He began his career as the vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, then embarked upon a primar ...
. Turner played his custom made PJE guitar during his performance at the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
.
During this time he was asked to re-develop and design the range of acoustic guitars for Faith Guitars.
Various Eggle-designed models went on to be awarded 'The UK's Best Acoustic Guitar' Award at the MIA Music Awards every year from 2012 to 2016, including the Faith Venus Blood Moon in 2016.
In 2016, Eggle and his small team of craftsmen ceased producing acoustics and began focusing solely on building and developing his own line of electric guitars. These include models such as the 96 and Macon which were both awarded a rare 10/10 Gold rating by ''
Guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...
'' magazine in 2017. Blues artist
Krissy Matthews
Krissy Matthews (born 25 May 1992) is a British-Norwegian blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. He had released three albums by the age of 18. His most recent and fifth album, ''Scenes From a Moving Window'', was released by Promise Recor ...
is a known player of the Macon.
In 2017, Eggle helped with the re-launch of the
Shergold
Shergold Guitars, or Shergold Woodcrafts Limited, is an English guitar manufacturing company established in October 1967 by former Burns London employees Jack Golder and Norman Houlder. Based in East London, the company moved from Forest Gate to ...
guitar brand by re-designing the Masquerader model shape, which is available with three pickup configurations and in four colour finishes.
References
External links
Patrick James Eggle GuitarsFaith Guitars WebsiteShergold Guitars website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggle, Patrick
Guitar makers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people