Featured Guitar Builder – PJD Guitars

I’ve been looking at builders of late and doing some profiles to help shine a light on the small builder guitar and gear industry. After recent chats with great local and local-ish makers like Mr Glyn’s Pickups and Tonecat Pedals, this week I am catching up with the owner of PJD Guitars, Leigh Dovey. While they have spent years building guitars over in the UK, the launch of their new Origin Series is making big waves for players everywhere—including right here in Australia.

From Playing in Bands to the Workbench

Like many of the makers we feature, the passion started with playing. When asked if there was an early moment, Leigh says that he realised building interested him more than simply playing.

“I think when I realised I was a lot better at making them than playing them haha,” he admits. While he was playing in bands at the time and music was his whole life, he knew deep down that his path would probably lead to designing and building guitars rather than gigging.

The Right Time for the Origin Series

After years of crafting high-end instruments in the UK, PJD has introduced the more accessible Origin Series. The motivation behind this timing? It’s a pretty simple reason, affordability helping to get PJD Guitars into more hands.

“It’s something that’s been in the back of my mind for about four years now,” Leigh tells me. Over the years, countless players have told him, “I love PJD, I just wish I could afford one.” That feedback struck a chord. “It really made me think, well, let’s make this available to everyone. And here we are!!”

Evolving Classic Designs and the 30-Second Test

PJD guitars manage to feel familiar while retaining a distinct identity. When tackling classic designs, Leigh notes that it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling the need to design something radically different.

“As fun as that can be, guitarists are creatures of habit, myself included. The classic designs are classics for a reason: they’re timeless, and they just work.”

Instead of reinventing the wheel, his focus is on tightening up those ideas and subtly making them his own. Take their St John model, for example. Based on a classic offset Jazz shape, which always felt a bit cumbersome or too big in the lower bout to him, the St John is much sleeker, keeping that cool offset vibe but feeling much nicer to play.

And that playability is crucial. We all know players will judge a guitar in the first 30 seconds. So, what does he want them to notice straight away?

“How comfortable the neck is, how good the fretwork feels and how good it sounds even unplugged,” he says. “It’s always the looks that sell a guitar first, right? But if the player picks it up and it feels great, then I’ve done my job. For me, the first couple of minutes are where I decide whether I love a guitar or think, ‘it’s just another guitar.’”

Beyond the Spec Sheet

In an era where modern guitars are often marketed through spec sheets and feature lists on a social media post, I asked what matters most that can’t really be measured on paper.

“That’s a really easy one, do you enjoy playing it? Simple as that,” he states. “You can dress a guitar up with as many specs as you want, but at the end of the day it’s just some wood, some wires, and some metal. Getting all of those things in the right place is the hard bit.”

This ties into the limitations of buying purely from online demos. While he notes that the consistency in modern guitars is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was 10 years ago, he believes that having hands-on experience is something an online purchase will never fully be able to replicate.

The Aussie Reaction and Looking Ahead

If an Australian player picks up a PJD for the first time this year, he hopes the feel, the looks, and the quality will be what surprises them the most. “It’s always amazing being at trade shows and putting a PJD in someone’s hands for the first time, then watching their eyes light up. That’s something that will never get old.”

As for the future of the brand? Fans can rest easy knowing the original vision isn’t going anywhere.

“So long as I’m at the head of the company, it will always keep its passion and vision intact,” he assures. “I’m not a guy in a suit picking guitar specs from a catalogue, I live and breathe (and build) guitars all day, every day, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.”

And again, if there are any small guitar or guitar related companies that you think that I should feature on the page, please reach out in the comments!