A Message From The Artist
"I have been designing and building guitars since the mid 1970's. Many of those years, 21 in fact, were spent at Fender Guitars... the first 9 as a Guitar Designer in Research & Development, and the last 12 as the co-founder and head of the Fender Custom Shop. During those years I worked with some incredible people and created guitars for some great artists. Artists like Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, Elliot Easton and Cesar Rosas, just to name a few. Now, for the first time, my custom designs are available as production models, hand-made in the USA by my team of expert builders, built to be heard and played for generations."
From Fender Beginnings to John Page Classic
The John Page Story
1978 - 1987
Fender® Beginnings
I started at Fender® in 1978, when I was 21 years old. As a Model Maker, I worked alongside the great Freddie Tavares, who worked under Leo himself. Under Freddie’s mentorship I became the youngest guitar designer in Fender® history at 23 years old, rising to Senior Design Engineer over the next several years.
1987 - 1998
Fender® Custom Shop
I was thrilled to co-found the Fender® Custom Shop – the legendary “Dream Factory” - with Michael Stevens, and leading the charge for 11 years.I took on the management of Guitar Research and Development during most of those years as well, going from Design Engineer to Vice President with lots of different hats in-between.
1998 - 2003
Fender® Museum of Music and the Arts
I moved from the Custom Shop to the role of Executive Director of the Fender Museum of Music and the Arts Foundation, and created the Kids Rock Free program, something I was very passionate about. Over the course
of four years, I led the foundation successfully through its launch and
establishment, and the creation of a 33,000 square foot museum, education, and a recording and performance facility.
2003 - 2006
Functional Art Furniture
In January of 2003 I moved up to my land in the Southern Oregon forest to build a new life and home. I spent the first year building my home and shop, and the next year and a half or so concentrating on my non-guitar related art… Functional art furniture. I sold in several galleries on the West Coast and had customers around the world. A lot of what I would experience creating those pieces led me to new processes for my guitar
building, which was about to become my main focus again.
2006 - 2015
John Page Custom Guitars
Early in 2006 I sat down at my drawing table and designed a new guitar… The P-1. It was a combination of all the things I had wanted to do in prior years but hadn’t gotten to, and since it was “my” guitar, I could design it my way, not Fender’s or any other company’s way. That day John Page Guitars was born. The line grew to seven guitar models, two bass models, and a line of hand-made wood and stainless steel bridge saddles… JP Woodtone.
2015 - 2024
John Page Classic
John Page Classic (JPC) launched in 2015, machine-building the very best of my classic designs in Japan at scale. The Ashburn was promptly named to the Guitar Player Magazine Hall of Fame, followed by The AJ, winner of Guitar World's Platinum Award, and later by my very own Bloodline® Pickups, which are still used in our guitars today.
2022 - Present
Art Guitars
The Pantages, The Manzanar, The Retablo.. all of my art guitars are hand-made customs, and most have features and options beyond the base model as I originally designed it. Some venture even further away… custom even by my standards. My art guitars are the truest expression of John Page: The Artist.
2025 - Beyond
John Page Signature
The new John Page Signature line is more in step with all the subtleties I put into my own custom hand-builds. Some of the details are obvious, others are more subtle—but you can see, feel, and hear the difference. Only guitar builders that I consider master level, and personally approve, build these new Signature instruments.
"UNIQUELY FAMILIAR"
“My design styling has always been what I call ‘uniquely familiar.’ When you look at my guitars you go, ‘It’s comfortable; it’s this really comfortably familiar thing … but it’s different! It’s unique. No, it’s really not the same, is it…’” - John Page
- Co-founded and led Fender® Custom Shop*. Directly taught and mentored many of the leading luthiers in the industry. Over 20 years at Fender and over 50 years designing and building guitars.
- Created legendary guitars for Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Elliot Easton and Cesar Rosas, and many more. Designed acclaimed guitars in conjunction with Harley Davidson, Playboy, and Jaguar.
- Prominently featured in The Dream Factory: Fender Custom Shop, by Tom Wheeler (Hal Leonard, 2011), Fender Custom Shop Guitar Gallery, by Richard Smith (Hal Leonard, 1996), The Stratocaster Chronicles, by Tom Wheeler (Hal Leonard, 2004)
- His classic guitar designs are most accessible through John Page Classic.
- Continues to build a limited number of custom guitars at his John Page Guitars workshop in southern Oregon.
*Fender, Stratocaster, and Telecaster are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation