In his career as a guitar builder, Jon Sullivan has likely agonized over a myriad of decisions regarding the form and function of his eye-catching instruments, but what to call them was never up for debate. “I got my first electric guitar in 1983, when I was 12,” he recalls. “It was a Maxitone, from the Matsumoku factory in Japan, that was a very ’60s, Jetsons-like bastardization of a Strat. I was very excited about it, and I took a Sharpie and signed ‘Sully’ on the headstock. So it was always going to be a thing.”
Like many guitar-obsessed teens who came of age in the ’80s, Sullivan, who grew up in Lombard, Illinois, spent his teenage years learning the licks of hard-rock icons such as Ace Frehley, Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, and Ratt’s Warren DeMartini and Robbin Crosby. He was influenced by not onlytheir playing but also their choice in instruments. “I was attracted to the newer, flashier, more modern guitars they played, like Robbin’s Jackson King V, and guitars built from various parts, like Ed’s Frankenstein,” Sullivan says. “I didn’t care about Fender Strats.” When he wasn’t practicing, Sullivan pored over the ads for guitar parts, necks and bodies in the back pages of guitar magazines, and studied the catalogs he received from luthiery supply house Stewart-McDonald. “And then I would also hang out like a stray cat at my local music store, Park Ave Guitarz. They were Jackson dealers, so they had all kinds of cool custom-shop stuff, and the owner, Steve Harnack, was just so nice to me. I would watch him do repairs and build parts guitars for all of the guys in town, and just ask questions.”
This story is from the September 2021 edition of Guitar Player.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2021 edition of Guitar Player.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MY CAREER IN FIVE SONGS
\"La Grange\" aside, these are the songs Billy F. Gibbons considers among his finest achievements.
TIP SHEET
He's played with and learned from the masters. Here are Christone \"Kingfish\" Ingram's best practices for performance.
How I Wrote..."The Story in Your Eyes"
Justin Hayward reveals the story and hidden message behind the Moody Blues' timeless 1971 hit single.
TWA
Krytical Mass KM-01 Reactive Octave Fuzz
FENDER
Tone Master Pro FR-10 Powered Cabinet
TWO NOTES
Special Edition Limited Run Torpedo Captor X
FENDER
Tone Master Pro Floor Modeler
AMERICANA AMBASSADOR
David Grisman details the historic mandolins, guitars and banjos he played on the Acoustic America album, as exhibited at Arizona's Musical Instrument Museum.
CAN'T STOP THE BOP
He's a bebop originator who's played with everyone from Charlie Parker to Jimmy McGriff. Now 96 and fronting a new album, Chicago guitarist George Freeman shows no sign of slowing down
DIRTY DEEDS
Looking for fresh musical inspiration, Kenny Wayne Shepherd left Nashville for Alabama's FAME Studios. The result is Dirt on My Diamonds, Vol. 1, the first half of a new album project that continues his blues-rock evolution.