a little bit about me, Ian Ward. (@ianward_e)

About six or seven years ago, during a period of personal upheaval, I had  lost interest in painting big canvases for shows and the art scene in general and  had been trying out different creative outlets, but never really finding much connection with what I was trying to create. 

I was out walking in a small town not far from where I lived and happened to walk past a second hand/junk shop. The door was open and in the corner of the shop was a beaten up scrap of a Stratocaster. Not an actual Fender strat, sadly, it was just a cheap copy. However, that little voice in my head was telling me to get it. I paid the guy £20 for it. To be honest, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Now, I've had guitars in my life since I was a kid, but never once thought about doing anything really with them, until that day.

As soon as I got home I took to removing the couple of strings that were left on it and started stripping it down. It wasn't long before the guitar had become a dirty, grimy pile of parts on my desk. And in that moment, something just ''clicked''. I had fallen in love.

I had no proper tools to speak of, just some old tools and screwdrivers that once belonged to my late Grandad, along with an old electric sander, and I went to work on it. 

I think I took more wood off that body than paint with that old sander, but I didn't care. This was awesome!

Paint and wood removed, I began researching what type of paints do I use on this thing? How do I get that finish guitar builders/luthiers get? And, of course, all the parts I'm going to need to rebuild this thing. Enter Ebay!

I went for a light blue with a poly top coat on that body, but I never rebuilt it, I was way too busy looking for cheap, banged up guitar bodies to strip and repaint.

I did this for a couple of years, adding my own artwork on the bodies, as well as learning how to actually put a guitar back together properly with the right wiring, hardware, fret levels/polishing and everything else that goes with it. 

It now had become so much more than an interest and something that I was totally into. As for adding artwork to the bodies, I'm certainly not the first, nor will I ever be the last.

so, I opened a shop on Reverb, just to see what would happen. And they sold, all of them. 

Truth be told, as blown away as I was by the sales, I didn't  really enjoy the building side of things, because all I could think about was what sort of artwork I could be painting on another guitar body?

So, the decision was made, only handpainted bodies from now on in. Things never felt so right.

So, I began to source decent, properly cut guitar bodies. Thankfully, It wasn't a problem at all.

Orders made, paints stocked up, I'm now in my element and loving every second of work I'm putting into it.

Time for the Reverb test, along with a slight change in my shop name. And they start selling. Some really quickly, some not so quick, some of them selling through Instagram before I've even posted them on Reverb. Some of them sat there for months before selling, but It never matters, because this is who I am now, and there will be plenty of work to add once I'd finished them.

During all of this, my Instagram is picking up interest from all sorts of different people. One of them being, Fender Custom Shop Master Builder, Vincent Van Trigt.

Vincent had written to me via direct message on Instagram asking if I'd like to collaborate on that year's prestige collection for fender Custom Shop.

Of course I said yes. And of course self doubt paid me a heavy visit. See, I am not professionally trained in anything. I'm just a kid from Folkestone who taught himself how to throw some paint about. But I went with it. And the Flamingo Sunset Telecaster was born.

Not long after that, Alister Atkin, owner of Atkin Guitars contacted me asking if I'd like to work on some things. Of course I said yes. And of course self doubt.........I went with it anyway.

Turned out my first work with Atkin Guitars was for the Buddy Holly Foundation. The Strat and Tele Buddy Holly guitars are there to view in the relevant album.

During all of this, I'm getting private commission requests, and accepting them.

Over the past couple of years I've worked on a couple of projects, and more to follow, with Vincent at Fender Custom Shop. We recently found out a huge star has purchased our Peacock Precision Bass, but, sadly, we are unable to mention who it is until we get the go ahead.

I still continue to work with Alister Atkin and Atkin Guitars. And there's many more projects to come.

I have now done quite a few guitars for the Buddy Holly Foundation, including ones for Sam Fender, Tony Iommi and another big name that I can't mention just yet. However, it shouldn't be long before I can.

I've also recently completed a commission for, Eric Racy, who is a platinum selling Mixing Engineer and Producer who's clients include, Katy Perry, Jonathan Davies (Korn), Pharrell, Busta Rhymes, Kelly Clarkson and Missy Elliot.

Never stop working towards doing what you love. Because if you don't try, you'll never know.

Much love

Ian xx