John Page – former head of the Fender Custom Shop – has crafted an extremely intricate boutique electric guitar that pays homage to some of the world’s first and finest guitar greats.
The Retablo – named after the devotional altarpieces that rose to prominence in the Middle Ages, typically reserved for Saints and deities – took over 2,350 hours to build over two years.
Today, Page – who built guitars for Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, and David Gilmour during his 20-year tenure with Fender – now runs John Page Guitars, but this is far more intricate than his usual creations.
Within its body, which is topped with acrylic, there are extremely ornate and saintly depictions of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Robert Johnson, all with “faces the size of dimes.” They even light up, and the guitar's Vibrola-style tailpiece looks like the work of a highly-skilled monk.
The Retablo arrives with an in-depth, hour-long documentary, which finds Page charting its creation step-by-step.
“I pushed my design and engineering skills and knowledge to the limit,” he says of the tireless build process. He also set some hard-and-fast rules. “If this piece was going to be a Retablo,” he continues, “then I decided that its creation must all be in my hands.”
Page's wife, who subconsciously acted as a muse for the piece, played a key role in that first-hand approach.
He says his wife, Dana, collects religious art, of which they are both huge admirers. So, he had Dana act as a model as he put his painting skills to the test, before turning his hand to painting legendary players.
The guitar features a roasted African mahogany neck and body, and an African ebony fingerboard. Beyond that, there are mother of pearl and Honey Jasper TruStone inlays, 24K gold features in Page’s signature on the headstock, and there are plenty of nods to Gothic architecture throughout its insane interior.
Custom Gotoh M6 tuning machines and gold-plated strings also play a part, as do numerous coats of Osmo Polyx-Oil – a satin hard wax finish with German origins.
“The guitar, in my mind, was secondary throughout the project,” he explains. However, it was always intended to still be playable, if only delicately – and very, very carefully – with Page adding, “The goal is to blur the line between fine art and functional craft.”
Guitar World has previously marvelled at aquarium guitars, Nuno Bettencourt’s Mad Max-inspired guitar/keyboard build, and, very recently, VP-1 Dark Fang, which facilitates a whole new way of guitar playing. This, however, ascends to its own level.
