J Joye Guitars

Towards the back of the electric guitars hall at Musikmesse 2015, through the never ending stream of cattle-like crowd movement, and somewhere near the emergency exit was a little slice of old school delight called J. Joye Guitars.

Imagine a two-tone 1957 Chevy Bel Air, a “Creature from the Blue Lagoon” pinball machine, and an ice cream parlour’s juke box were all melted down, combined, and reformed into a map cut guitar. J Joye guitars are a blast from the past, but while the overall look might be vintage, the cut and design is very innovative. We had the chance to test a couple of their models out in Frankfurt, and we were very pleased with the warm vintage tones we got out of them.

We caught up with founder Jeremy Joye for a brief chat outside of his booth.

Where does this design come from?

We’re inspired by old American cars- 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s.  We started making our first guitars in a little workshop in Lille. We wanted to get an old school sound- there’s a huge demand for that right now in the specialty guitar market. We make guitars which sound like they’re supposed to, and look how we always dreamed they could.

What about your production process ?

Well, demand has picked up so we’ve started producing some of the guitar parts in Korea. Other than these parts, we still produce the body and the fretboard, etc. in our workshop, and in our own style.

J. Joye Guitars had three different models on display at Musikmesse: “Ace of Spade,” “Bel Air,” and “Starlette”. Each one has a unique design and its own feel. If you like the American 50’s and 60’s look, Bel Air and Starlette are for you.

For now they sell their guitars in Lille and a few other cities in France. If you have the opportunity to see them, we recommend definitely giving them a pluck! Or, check out their website:  www.jjoyeguitars.com

We look forward to some great new, old-looking things to come out of J. Joye.  

Stay tuned!