19 hours ago
The Somerset man making guitars for Idles and Massive Attack
Rocker Josh Stopford spent a decade on the road with ska band Yes Sir Boss. But after retraining as a carpenter he has switched from playing with the stars to making guitars for Stopford, from Frome in Somerset, has performed with Joss Stone, supported reggae legends Toots and the Maytals, gigged with Reef and appeared at Glastonbury multiple setting up in 2018, he has built and worked on instruments for Bristol legends Massive Attack and Idles, as well as The Vaccines, Gaz Coombes, The Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The The.
The 41-year-old told BBC Radio Somerset he made the change when he had his first child after 10 years of touring he realised as a carpenter he could make guitars he "sort of couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before"."It takes about two-and-a-half months from start to finish, it depends what you want," the dad-of-two said."But if what you want is complicated and fiddly, it's worth the wait.
"For me, doing the little details is the really great bit. It's all the finishing that makes it very exciting to me," said Mr Alex Lee, who has worked with Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, Placebo, Suede and the Royal Shakespeare Company, apparently feels the same way. He is planning on coming in to Mr Stopford's workshop at West Valley Guitars with some wood from his garage which he wants to use in an instrument."He was just really interested in the building part of it," said the carpenter.
At the moment Mr Stopford only builds electric guitars, which cost between £2,500 and £3, said: "I would make acoustic but it's hard enough to make money with electrics."Acoustics, they take a lot longer and cost more to build, and launching into that feels sort of overwhelming." Besides, he finds electrics more appealing."I've found my thing and that's it," he said. "I've arrived."
