These long form guitar videos are the best part of my day , a real help for inspiration and knowledge , thank you so much for all of the guitar/music content over the years - bless the whole team at Andertons ❤
Great respect for small builders like this. The biggest reason why companies like this can offer higher quality for the same price has to do with the fact that they don't have millions of dollars (or pounds) of overhead to pay out that each guitar sold needs to help cover. A smaller number of guitars built by a smaller number of skilled craftsmen (people) means they won't take in lots of money from quantity sold. So each guitar needs to bring in a higher margin, which they can because of that lower overhead. So even with fewer numbers of items sold, they can still bring in enough to cover salaries, overhead and some profit. I'm glad to see a home-grown builder putting out good product. Best of luck and success!
Recently purchased a Carey Apprentice. By a wide margin, it’s the nicest guitar I’ve ever had my hands on. So grateful to have come across it. Weighs next to nothing, feels absolutely top quality, and Just plain wonderful to play.
I bought a gorgeous red open-pore Carey with roasted maple neck at Regent Sounds in London earlier this year... I knew I'd have to take it on the plane with me back home to the US, but it was WORTH IT! My guitar collection is ever expanding and contains a number of top quality and even one-off guitars, but in addition to gorgeous, smooth, and infintitely playable craftsmanship, the PJD pickup tone is beyond my expectation-and experience. I have never played a mid-to-high-end guitar where the tone knob did anything but roll off the high frequencies. In other words... turn your core sound into mud. Then I played (what became my) PJD. Who knew there could be colors and flavors spread across the tone knob's spectrum? This is maybe... probably... oh, seriously... my new favorite electric!
They look very beautiful, and if they play as well as they look then that explains why Pete is evidently having a lot of fun playing. Great to see a relatively new British Company producing high end guitars. I may not have the money this year, but they are on my radar from now on, so I’m sure they will do well, and deserve to.
I think the artificial damage is the divisive/controversial bit. When a builder just does some cosmetic light aging ie, some added paint wear and some hardware tarnish, it becomes something very different that people really seem to like. I think that’s why Murphy Lab guitars are so loved.
I'm interested. As I am in the US I would Luke more info as to your review of the tone, playability, and how does to compare to other familiar guitars. Love to support smaller builders. For example I bought montys pickups based upon your positive review of their tone and really pleased.
Playability is exceptional, especially on the York. On par with the best guitars I’ve played - 61’ Masterbuilt Strat and a Customshop Murphy Lab SG and Firebird and a 58’ ES-335. Tone wise, definitely a more modern sound compared to the vintage soun of a 61’ Strat or 63’ Tele. The York has a lovely neck and bridge pickup. Neck pickup is exceptionally voiced such that you can get Strat tones from it, and the bridge has the signature bark and bite with a lovely balanced midrange. The York is the standout model to me, however the Carey, St John and Woodford are all top notch. Really like the St John with the single F-hole with a P90 neck and a humbucker bridge. The flame maple tops look incredible. As well as the single humbucker versions of the St John’s too. Overall, top quality guitars. I happen to have met the owner once before, really nice guy. Would not hesitate to buy one. Reliable instrument with great feel and sound and you’re supporting a smaller builder.
I started designing and carving my own electrics to make something original and a bit more user-friendly. It's a daunting task and a massive learning curve. Congrats to PJD and big props on those fantastic sounding pickups and very cool guitars. Let me know if you are looking for some other original designs or will do small orders of original painted bodies.
My only problem (indeed with nearly all of your videos), is that it is really difficult for me to imagine how the guitar would sound in my hands. Seeing as Pete could make a diddley bow sound awesome, could we ask him to play left-handed occasionally?
These look quite nice. I don’t like the relic’ed one, but that’s a matter of personal taste. My favorite is the York. It’s obviously influenced by the Telecaster, but it’s not a total clone like so many other brands are. Nice design with Tele-style hardware and pickups. Looks like my kind of guitar! Do they ship to the US?
I bought a Carey apprentice with just one p90 in it this January. The finish is in sherwood green and the neck is the best in my collection (including Gibson and Fender). I just love that thing and it gets played a lot. Godspeed to pjd
Any plans to make a hard case option available to fit the York? Or is there a commercially available generic case that fits it well? Have to confess the lack of a standard hard case option is probably the only thing that has held me back from adding a York to my collection.
I love that he made a point to say they don't call themselves "master builders". I find it so insulting that Fender does that when absolutely none of them are anywhere close to mastering even one facet of the built process let alone the entirety of it. You ever hear about a fender builder that felled their own lumber? Milled it? Dried it? Ever heard of any that created a new alloy? Forged and cast their own parts? Machined them even?!?! What about the finish, surely one of them has developed their own varnish right?!?! NO!?!? So lets see... what about what they do is "building" rather than "assembling"? I think if the Fender Master builders were half as competent as they've led their customers to believe, John Cruz wouldn't have fallen flat on his face trying to make his own guitars... correct me if I'm wrong but before he left, wasn't he considered the premier builder at Fender? The absolute best they had to offer couldn't even come close to being successful on his own... Hency why I'd much rather buy a guitar from a brand like PJD thats not feeding me a bunch of bullshit.
@@TomReinerDESeeing as PJD were supposed to make the British Chapman range way back when I’d say he’s definitely got some shares in PJD. Either way they the guitars clearly speak for themselves and keeping the prices relatively low is respectable
@@locky828That was through the UK Guitar Builders thing, which was just a collective project through with smaller builders (like PJD Guitars) could make high-end guitars for larger companies (like Chapman). It says nothing about Lee being financially involved in PJD itself other than being a retailer that sells PJD guitars - it’s like suggesting that Lee has shares in the World Music factory in Korea, because they build the Chapman Pro range
Lovely to see a GB company doing something special , I had a Gordon Smith many years ago , had nice neck profile ... love the P90 / Humbucker confit , like a mid range Yamaha Pacifica , but for the high prices you would need to really want one and really want keep the guitar as ( if you fall out of love with it or need cash quickly ) like any non big brand item , I would bet resale value isn’t anywhere near a Fender Gibson etc price equivalent , not a reason not to get one but it’s still a factor in guitars costing over a grand plus. Maybe in the £500 / £800 they would seriously sell and not gather dust 🤷♂️
Always nice to have options. But at £2k for a Start style guitat I'm probably going to buy a used Suhr or Silver Sky. At £3k I'm going to get a Patrick James Eggle 96 or a Custom Shop Fender.
@@Pjdguitars. That's good to know and thank you. I live near the Andertons store so I'll certainly check them out next time I'm there. At the end of the day a good guitar is a good guitar. I have a Shijie amongst others, It's brilliant, some people would dismiss it just because it's made in China. It's a cut above some Fender, Gibson and PRS models I have. So I'll certainly take a look at your models with interest.
@@Pjdguitars. I'm not a big fan of maple fretboards, ebony, rosewood or dark roasted pau ferro I do like. Do you plan to offer some of the less expensive models with dark fretboards. Looking at current stock at Andertons only the higher end Woodford Pioneer models have rosewood. I like that you have incorporated a body/belly carve on the Carey models. A gripe I have with most Gibson guitars is the lack of one. A Carey with a dark rosewood or ebony fretboard and P90 / humbucker is something I'd consider. Even more so if the scale was 24.75"
Just ordered a St John from Wildwire (Arctic White, roasted maple neck), although it still shows as available! Hopefully that updates soon. Very much looking forward to receiving it. I hope the fretwork is as good as the rest of it looks. @@Pjdguitars.
Still too pricey for what they actually are but not as bad as the modern day epis or prs se. But credit where it's due they've finally dropped the handmade tag. Also nice to see a company winding pickups in house, thats a good touch. Still wouldnt buy one, I'd do what I've been doing more and more, buy from a local luthier and get something truly unique. Good to see an english firm getting out there and making waves though. Good on you fella.
A team of 6, and some of these going for 2k is suuper reasonable. UK wages are also pretty high. They cant be pumping out guitars as fast as gibson yet they are cheaper
They are certainly over priced for what they are (as are Gibson/PRS & some Epis) if luthiers who work single handedly without CNC can put out guitars with equal if not better results for less than 2k these are overpriced, yes the lead time is greater but the final result is a truly unique instrument. But not everyone would agree with me nor would I want them to :) The wages in the UK aren't that high, certainly not enough to add a rediculous premium onto an instrument that's put together this way. The handmade tag states everything is done by hand without cnc, the handbuilt tag would mean everything is assembled and finished by hand which is correct. My biggest gripe was the claiming and charging handmade for what is essentially (and quite harshly) a kit build (all be it one that has been CNC cut in house).
I wish I was earning money to afford one of those purple offset ones! But as I'm unemployed, it doesn't look like I'll ever be able to show one on my channel?
I like Anderson’s video’s. The Gibson tours were brilliant until they got to the Murphy lab and Lee kept going on about the debate about whether people like relicing on their guitars or not. Now he’s going on about it now. If you like it, buy it. If you don’t, don’t.
In 2024 it seems to me that fret finishing is an expectation. Every review and builder likes to talk about it as a selling point, but I challenge you to find me any new guitar that is selling with sharp frets. It does not exist.
Sad to say my experience with PJD models has been less than stellar. Poorly cut nut is all too common, bridges placed off the correct position, plus frets being poorly done. And they've been incredibly reluctant to accommodate custom requests outside of woods or colours. For the prices they ask, they're simply not up to scratch. There's far better builders in the UK for less and who deliver on quality and customisability.
Anyone paying this sort of money on a guitar should be playing it in-store, capable of assessing the instrument and prepared to have a luthier set it up to their specification. People need to take responsibility for their own guitar purchase and be a bit brand-agnostic. (I say that because I played one guitar for twenty years and the first time I handed it to a luthier after that time he told me the bridge had been put on in the wrong place!)
I just don’t get the point of paying fender price for a guitar that is obviously trying to be a fender lol. They have the whole fender lineup for fender prices but not fenders…
Except for the ones that are Gibson inspired. But yeah. It makes sense though, people seem to need a familiar frame of reference. Bear in mind that hundreds of thousands of builders have made violins and cellos and they all faithfully riff off of the successful archetypes of a Stradivarius and a Guarneri. Once a builder really gets some traction , they can begin expanding their designs. At first though, a familiar face sells.
These are owned by Andertons yes? It’s their house brand guitar. Who can blame them? Fender boned all their dealers and are going direct to public. Except for custom shops. But it’s only a matter of time before they go direct with those as well. I predict that will be a long term disaster for fender because the dealers are protecting themselves via other brands. Like we see here. Fender just started competing with their dealers with the same product with no consultation and that leads to disaster. What’s the bet andertons is pushing these over factory fenders?
