June 2009

JHS TAKES UP ITALIA GUITARS

In a world of what seems like homogenised guitar design dominated by the more established big name shapes, it's often left up to the more radical alternatives to provide some thankful light relief with some away-from-the-crowd thinking and designs.

And there's no doubt that the smile needle gets pushed well into the red with Italia guitars and basses. Quirky? Certainly. Individual? Exceedingly. Characterful? Shed loads, and some to spare.

Taking inspiration from the more individual guitar designs of the 50's and 60's, Italia guitars take the concept of 'modern retro' to the very maximum.
Conceived and designed by Trev Wilkinson, the man behind the launch and development of Fret-King and the JHS Vintage, Vintage Icon, Vintage Advance and Encore line-up of best sellers, Italia instruments offer stand-out looks, innovative ideas, wide tone choice, superb playability, all at reassuringly competitive prices.

With model names which read like a check list of must-visit Italian locations, Italia instruments have already won the hearts of players/guitar heads of the calibre of Chris Rea, The Cars' Elliot Easton and US fretboard whizz, Stevie Salas.

Rea in particular remembers his discovery of Italia guitars during a shop visit in London's Denmark Street as something akin to a personal epiphany: "For 20 years, most of us forgot what we were supposed to be doing - enjoying playing music. The goose that laid the golden egg with all these huge European tours, a week's residency at Wembley, and so on," Chris reflected during an interview with Guitar Buyer magazine. "And then, in Denmark Street, I found this blue sparkly guitar - and that was it for me. I thought it was an old guitar - I didn't know it was new."

That blue sparkly guitar was, in fact, an inexpensive Italia Maranello model that Rea had stumbled across...

"In terms of me playing and listening to it, it sounded almost identical to (Rea's famous old Strat®) 'Pinky'," continues Rea, "but with no buzz - not a sausage! And to think that it's supposed to be a cheap guitar! So I immediately got another three from Denmark Street, one for E straight, E tuning with capo, and so on."

With a number of pickup switching options and an almost infinite capacity for tonal adjustability, guitarists like Chris Rea who take the Italia route face an enjoyable voyage of uncharted sonic discovery...

And now, as with the acclaimed Fret-King range, Italia has found a new home with leading UK & Eire music distributor, John Hornby Skewes & Co. Ltd. and will be on display as part of the company's catalogue at Event's opening day on Sunday.

“It’s been such a blast to work with Trev with Fret-King, Vintage and Encore that we were delighted to be able to add another of his truly masterful concepts to our range," enthuses JHS Managing Director, Dennis Drumm, who adds, "Italia is a brand with such style, flair, verve and panache, with guitars and basses which are so cool, so desirable and just so good to play, it’s going to be as much of a pleasure to sell them as it is for guitarists to own and play them.”

"Italia guitars haven't always had the heavy duty push behind them in the past that you need to really make an impact on the market these days," comments designer Trev Wilkinson. "They offer something different to the standard fare whilst still being well-made, extremely playable instruments in their own right. I think they'll get the attention they deserve with the JHS team behind them."

> Click here to visit Italia Guitars

Below: Aiming high - Trev Wilkinson (left) and JHS MD, Dennis Drumm celebrate another impressive Wilkinson-derived addition to the JHS catalogue, in the form of Italia guitars and basses.