Luthier on seeing his guitar on the Glastonbury main stage: “It’s taken five years of work to get to this moment”

A luthier has shared his delight at seeing one of his guitars in the hands of Richard Fortus as he played with Guns N’ Roses at Glastonbury last weekend.

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Neil Ivison of Ivison Guitars says he was first approached on social media to make the guitar for Fortus, who claimed he was a fan of his designs. The next thing Ivison knew, he spotted Fortus playing the vintage-style Ivison Korina Dakota during Guns ‘N’ Roses’ performance at Glastonbury.

To see the guitar being played on stage was “really great”, Ivison told Guitar.com, who apparently wasn’t expecting to see it. “I was really chuffed as it’s taken five years of work to get to this moment. It sounded really great too!”

He said Fortus planned to play the instrument for the rest of the tour and had invited him to the band’s upcoming gig in Hyde Park.

According to Ivison, another one of his models, the Hurricane, also appeared at the coveted festival, this time in the hands of Swedish band The Hives.

“They have been playing The Hurricane all throughout the Arctic Monkey’s tour too,” the luthier stated.

The manufacturer opened up shop in 2018 after a career as a professional guitarist. He hand-builds two series of guitars, one of which is The Hurricane, donning elements of the guitars that were being made at 225 Parsons St, Kalamazoo, Michigan in the late ’50s. The second of which is The Dakota which is inspired by the classic tones of Johnny Winter and Allen Collins.

Two models of Ivison’s guitars have been reviewed by Guitar.com, and have both received an Editor’s Choice award.

You can check out Ivison Guitars on their website.