Sometime in 2015 I received an email from Alan Entwhistle, an English guitar designer/builder, saying that he would like to make me a guitar and what would I like? Alan has long respected history in the guitar making world and I was excited by the prospect of him building me a guitar.
When coming up with my first few ideas I realized that I was just copying guitars that I already had. I needed to come up with something that was different, but useful and simple.
What we arrived at is a Fender offset body shape with a Strat scale bound neck and 3 Entwhistle P90 style pickups. It has a great looking Fiesta red or white finish with matching headstock and a Stratocaster style bridge.
When I received the guitar in January 2016 it looked even better than I thought it would, great finish. Upon plugging it in the pickups sounded great! Full tone but not muddy. I’d decided on a simple 3 way pickup selector switch. One pick up at a time.
Not only do they look great but they play and sound good too. They are a very versatile guitar with a large combination of possible sounds.
After the success of the prototype guitar it was decided to produce a small run of guitars with the same specs and make them available at an affordable price. These instruments are of a higher quality than the usual competitors.
In 2021, we’ve also obtained a limited run of Martin Cilia Custom Basses. Also in Fiesta Red, they match the guitar.
We’ve just released the Martin Cilia Thinline Guitar. This is a special new design with quite a different sound to the Custom. Check it out.