It’s been a few weeks since Decibel’s “soft launch” and a few days since the models and prototype builds in progress were revealed to a wider audience.

So far, the feedback has been tremendous and very supportive, so i just want to thank all of the friends, colleagues, and fellow guitarists who have given feedback and support. I take every bit of feedback seriously, and i do take it all very constructively. As a professional designer, i’ve learned over the years to separate myself from my work, so while i am attached to my design work, it’s just my work, and nothing you say can offend me personally. Everyone sees things differently, and if someone can help me to see my own work in a different light or from a different perspective, it makes the end result better.

I thought i’d share a few brief notes about the genesis of the models you see here. I’ll hopefully delve into these in a bit more detail and try to dredge up some sketches and earlier works in progress. But for now, here’s the brief history of the range as it stands today.

The Javelin is the design i’ve been working on the longest. It is, in many ways, the spiritual successor to my Number One, which i built a little over 20 years ago. I’ve been constantly sketching, refining, tweaking and revising that design since i first built it, knowing one day i’d be building again. It’s undergone countless design revisions over the years, and has been in its current form since late 2008. It has has only received very minor updates since then, so suffice it to say that i’m very pleased with where it has ended up. When Brian offered me the piece of figured walnut (Number One also has a walnut body), i knew that the stars had aligned and it was time to finally bring it to life.

The Cutlass i’ve been working on the next longest, and it was originally the model i was going to call the AMX. Right now, the Cutlass is the one design i’m not entirely happy with, which is how i ended up going back to the drawing board and creating the AMX from the Javelin. The Cutlass started as an extension of an idea i had for a “Parker Fly” style singlecut, and as i tweaked and refined and stretched and tweaked it some more, i started seeing too much Fernandes Ravelle and Ibanez Iceman in it. Not that there’s anything wrong with the design of either of those iconic instruments, but as it is right now, it doesn’t feel as original as i once thought, so i’m taking a bit of a break from it and might approach it with fresh eyes in a couple of months.

The AMX came together really quickly, pretty much over the course of an evening. It’s the result of some feedback i got from various people to whom i showed the initial designs to. I’m quite happy with it, and it seems to be getting a lot of very positive response from people.

The Aviator and Stealth were an interesting exercise. I initially drew a design similar to the Stealth a few years ago. I had always liked KK Downing’s Hamer mini-V, the Carvin V220 and Ultra V and Jackson King Vs, but never felt comfortable playing a V. I never liked the way they hung on a strap or where my picking arm and wrist rested in relation to the strings… they just never worked well for me ergonomically. I thought i’d try offsetting the body to create an upper “horn” extension in order to shift the balance point to where i’m more accustomed to it being. After a lot of experimentation and design work to get the proportions right, i was pretty happy. The Stealth came first, and then i rounded it off and made adjustments to get the Aviator. The Stealth X was added in order to add a leg rest to a V… the upper horn was added to balance it out.

The Prototype 2 Aviator is a true prototype… i’ve made some assumptions based on my experience and designed something which i think will work, but until i get that neck and body bolted together, i won’t know for sure. A friend of mine called it “a V for Strat players,” which i think is probably a fitting description. I’ve always liked the feel and balance of an offset double-cutaway body, but also have had a soft spot for some of the more radical designs. (The first guitar i really lusted for was the Gibson Explorer.) It’s a pretty exciting process, and i can’t wait to see how it turns out!