John Page
"The John Page Classic line is the culmination of my 40 years of building custom guitars.”
John Page
Bio
- Co-Founded and led Fender Custom Shop*
- Led Fender Guitar Research & Development
- Created legendary guitars for Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Elliot Easton and Cesar Rosas, many more
- Designed acclaimed guitars in conjunction with Harley Davidson, Playboy, Jaguar
- Over 20 years at Fender and over 40 years designing and building guitars
- 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) and many others.
- Directly taught and mentored many of the leading luthiers in the industry
- Joined forces with Howard Swimmer, Founder & CEO of HRS Unlimited, parent company of John Page Classic, in order to make his elite custom designs more accessible
- John Page Classic Ashburn model named to Guitar Player Hall of Fame
- Continues to build a limited number of custom guitars at his John Page Guitars workshop in southern Oregon.
Timeline
b. 1957
Son of a conservative preacher, comes of age as rock n’ roll and the California surf culture explode onto the scene. Chooses the red pill: leaves home, surfs, works as a janitor in California oil fields, toils in fast food joints, starts a band, designs jewelry, builds an electric guitar, returns home, leaves home again – and writes songs.
1975
At age 18 works in an LA metals and plastics warehouse while gigging at night. One of their customers is Fender...
1978
May 21: Twenty-one year-old John Page’s first day at Fender. Assigned to factory floor, where he buffs guitar necks … then buffs more guitar necks. Soon promoted to model maker for Fender R&D. Builds guitar and amp prototypes based on drawings from Fender designers. Builds special guitars for Fender artists.
1980
At age 23 (only in America) named a Guitar Designer for Fender R&D, working side-by-side with the legendary Freddy Tavares, a creator of the Fender Stratocaster. Tavares mentors Page and treats him like a son.
1981
Designs his first Fender guitar, the Bullet, a successful Telecaster-shaped value guitar with a unique 1-piece metal pickguard/bridge combo. Gradually begins designing higher-end guitars. like the Vintage, Elite, and Performer Series’ as well as many others.
1986
After nine prolific years at Fender, takes 11-month hiatus to give his music one final shot. While in hot pursuit of a record deal Page learns that the Fender Custom Shop, an idea he and others had championed for several years, is a real possibility.
1987
Rejoins Fender in early 1987 as Co-Founder, with noted luthier Michael Stevens, of the spanking new Fender Custom Shop. Leads Fender Custom Shop for the next 12 years; the first three with Stevens. During this period he’s at the epicenter of what’s come to be known as “The Dream Factory” – arguably the most creative era in contemporary guitar history.
Creates guitars for artists including Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, Elliot Easton and Cesar Rosas, to name a few. Designs acclaimed guitars in conjunction with Harley Davidson, Playboy, and Jaguar automobiles. 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) and many others.
Equally important, fosters a culture of creativity that attracts and/or nurtures leading luthiers like Fred Stuart, the late John English, J.W. Black, John Suhr, Yasuhiko Iwanade, Larry Brooks, Art Esparza, Gene Baker, Stephen Stern, Mark Kendrick, and more. Relic guitars, art guitars, countless additional design breakthroughs – all occur under Page design leadership.
1998
Leaves Fender Custom Shop to become founding Executive Director of the Fender Museum of Music and the Arts. Creates a 33,000 sq. ft. museum, education, performance and recording facility in Corona, CA – focused on free music education for kids.
2003
Relocates to the Southern Oregon forest, takes a break from guitars and designs and builds functional art furniture.
2006
John Page Custom Guitars launches in mid-2006. The custom line grows to six guitar models, a bass, and a line of hand-made wood and stainless steel bridge saddles (JP Woodtone) and innovative art guitars.
2014
Joins forces with HRS Unlimited, headed by Howard Swimmer, in order to make his custom guitar designs and Bloodline® by John Page pickups available to many more players. (Hear John Page describe the Ashburn – video).
2015
Launched in Spring 2015, the John Page Classic Ashburn model is embraced by players at all levels and named to the Guitar Player Magazine Hall of Fame. This comes in addition to a Guitar World Platinum Award and stellar reviews in Vintage Guitar and The Gear Page webzine. The Ashburn is similarly embraced by leading artists including Eric Gales, Mark Knopfler, Fred Armisen, Scott Sharrard and Andy Aledort.
Today and Beyond
The magic continues: The Ashburn line has grown to include HH, HSS, LH, Special and Limited Edition (LE) models – all true to John Page’s Uniquely Familiar™ custom design aesthetic. The Bloodline® by John Page pickups line includes S-style and T-style pickups that perfectly capture John Page tonal character. The John Page Classic AJ (T-style) guitar model is among the most honored in recent years. And John Page Classic has emerged as one of the most successful new brands in the guitar category, supported by a loyal group of artists who’ve made a John Page Classic their “Forever Guitar.” What’s next? Please check this website and our social media periodically to see.
*Fender, Stratocaster, and Telecaster are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation