PATRICK JAMES EGGLE MACON SINGLE CUT

Gold-award 10/10 ratings are rare in our reviews section, but here’s a guitar we’d have given 11 if we could. Patrick James Eggle and his small team make just 20 guitars a month from their workshop in Oswestry. And, like many contemporary makers, Eggle has obviously referenced the classic Gibson Les Paul with the Macon, but this is never going to be confused with the real thing. The craft level is exceptional and there’s a definite style, too. The hardware is lightly aged but not relic’d, and the neck finish is worn away leaving a lightly oiled and waxed bare-wood finish. The mahogany backs are lightly chambered in a honeycomb pattern to reduce weight with less effect on the sound than many weight-relieved or chambered guitars. You can expect high-grade parts such as the ABM two-piece bridge and tailpiece, and our review guitar featured a set of Cream T Whiskerbuckers featuring a very vintagestyle circuit, with the exception of the ‘blower’ switch, which sends the output of the bridge pickup directly to the output jack. “Patrick has taken the inspiration and made it very much his own,” we said, “with an altered appearance, but a sound and feel that many of us can only dream of.”