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LeT’s face it, if you want a copy or clone of a Strat, Tele or Les Paul, today’s choice seems endless. But, there are some makers out there who haven’t given up on creating new designs that give an original spin on those classics, as this Swope Geronimo illustrates.

Chris Swope formed his eponymous venture in 2013 after stints with Sadowsky, the Gibson Custom Shop and as an advisor to Private Reserve Guitars. It’s little surprise then that the Geronimo, his first design, feels like a throwback to the 60s – a vintage Fender guitar that never was. Swope’s other models include the more Tele-inspired MG and GTO, as favoured by Ronnie Wood.

But as you can see, this Geronimo is no clone. Its offset centre-joined alder body isn’t going to pass off as anything you’ve seen before. But, as with all great ‘inspired by’ designs, it looks and feels familiar.

“When we spec’d this guitar, we requested a Pelham Blue finish, but just at the point where it starts to turn green with age. Chris has nailed our request perfectly,” says Ben Montague, MD of The North American Guitar in London.

It’s a looker for sure but the nitro finish also has Swope’s ‘Knock-Around’ treatment: it’s not a full-blown relic and the Gotoh hardware is left clean and shiny, but hold it in the right light and you’ll see cracks in the finish and the occasional, slight ding. It’s not only very dealer friendly, we can take it on a gig and not worry. It’s a good 3.56kg/7.85lb too, and has a beautifully shaped ‘open C’ neck profile that’s quite deep but doesn’t feel it.

Nods to modernism are the wheel adjustment at the body end (which makes precise neck relief easy to dial in) for what is otherwise an old-school truss rod. Also the split scratchplate means access to the wiring is easier than a Strat.

The range of Fender-y textures is immense; the O.G. humbuckers sound more like single coils and remind us a little of Lollar’s El Rayo ’buckers; position four on the five-way lever switch is a thinner Strat-like mix, position two adding subtle girth, while the bridge ’bucker is the type of single-coil Fender voice many of us dream of. There’s a pristine clarity that contrasts a woodier, thicker Strat for example but, spend time dialling in your sound you’ll discover the Geronimo lives up to its name.

Hard to put down, this guitar is a real player that reinterprets a cornerstone voice into something subtly, but noticeably different. A maker to watch.

2. Fender in style but far from a clone, Swope’s headstock recalls a larger 70s style. And, along with using staggered height vintage-style tuners, Chris also prefers to add a single string-tree on the top two strings to ensure a clean ring at the bone...

3 This lower smallerknobbed two-way rotary switch-control voices Swope’s ‘funk bump’ (which only works in position 3 with both humbuckers selected). It’s a high-pass filter that produces a subtle cocked-wah character 3

1 1. Chris Swope’s owndesign O.G. (Original Geronimo) humbuckers are pretty unique. They feature mismatched coils in terms of winds and magnet structure – one coil is ‘Fender single coil’, the other ‘Gibson humbucker’. Also note, the third fixing/...

4 4. By design, there’s no finish above the fret tang, especially if due to temperature or humidity you experience ‘fretsprout’ where the fret ends slightly protrude. “All that’s required,” says Chris, “is to kiss the tangs with a mill smooth or...