Ayers Guitar Endorser-Stuart Masters

Stuart Masters is a professional artist based in UK. He plays what has variously been described as fusion folk, ambient acoustic or psych-jazz-folk. He and his band derive their ethos from the artistic freedom offered by 60s progressive British music and the improvisational format of non-Western musical forms and Jazz.

Stuart’s studies of Western Classical and Folk, Indian Classical, Arabic and Middle Eastern music reveal a whole host of influences, which, coupled with a distinctive Celtic edge born from his British origins, make a unique sound – labelled by one reviewer as ‘fretboard wizardry’!

Stuart chose an auditorium body made with Hawaiian Koa Top, back and sides. On the fretboard, there are Oak leaves indicates his belief that music should be living and constantly changing. They are asymmetrical and falling as a reminder that too much perfection can be a bad thing!

Below we received the comments from Stuart Masters:

 The guitar sounds mellow and sophisticated but can also become quite brash and edgy if you want it to (which is great!). There is excellent separation between the strings. I love the depth of the body; it’s a comfortable, compact body size but the depth gives it that extra projection. The fit and finish are great; a luthier I think it was very impressed with the finish. It looks great in general and the fret inlay work is superb. 

 The neck is very comfortable; combined with the 1 11/18 nut width, it is a full but comfortable profile. The action was high but that’s to be expected from a guitar the has shipped halfway across the world! I had the neck straightened slightly and the saddle filed down a little. I imagine Koa wouldn’t be everyone’s choice because it’s not that ‘classic’ wood combination but it’s got great character and has a pure, clean sound.