This week we had the pleasure of speaking with Gerry Dale, owner of Snap Dragon Guitars, and designer of all their instruments. Read on to find out more about this unique and fascinating business.
Tell us about the history of Snap Dragon Guitars and what the catalyst was to start the company in the first place.
Snap Dragon started when I began working in China for months at a time. I found it difficult to go that long without a guitar, and I was dismayed to learn how difficult it was to travel with a conventional instrument. The risk of damage in the cargo hold was massive and the options on the market at the time weren’t suitable for my needs. So, using my passion for the guitar and decades of engineering experience, I set to work coming up with my own solution
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Travel guitars are your specialism. How did these models come about and how do you achieve the practicality without compromising the sound and playing feel?
Through a lot of trial and error. We spent years trying various incarnations of our design and we have a wide range of options now. The key thing is that all of our designs are modular and share multiple parts. We produce the majority of these parts in our workshop in the UK. This keeps manufacturing quick and simple and allows us focus on the details like the fretwork and the finish on the neck. All of our necks are finished by hand, and making our guitars as smooth and playable as possible is our number one priority.
Where does the structural strength come from in a folding guitar?
Our pivot design uses the string tension to keep the guitar stable. The point around which the neck pivots is off centre, which means that the string tension pulls and holds the neck into its final position when you unfold the instrument. We also use materials with a high tensile strength, like bamboo and polycarbonate. These materials aren’t as susceptible to humidity as more traditional tone woods, and they make our guitars super durable and able to stand up to any kind of environment.
I (Matt) thoroughly enjoyed watching the Picnic II Electric and Acoustic demos on the media page of your website – the playing reminded me a little of Django Reinhardt. Are your guitars steered towards a particular style of music or are they in use in a variety of genres and settings?
The Picnic design came from my love for Gypsy Jazz and the old Macaferi guitars, so it was a natural fit for the playing in that video (credit to Joe Perkins, who’s an amazing player). But our guitars are for everyone. We have models that suit almost any playing style, and they can all be used in professional situations as well as for personal enjoyment.
Out of all your guitars, what’s your favourite to play and why?
I think the Traxe is our best overall instrument. It’s been our best seller since it came out and I think it captures what makes Snap Dragon so appealing to players. The body design makes it our nicest guitar acoustically and the polycarbonate construction makes its incredibly tough for any environment. It’s also got a more familiar look to it, which is appealing to customers who aren’t 100% sure about the idea of a folding guitar. I’ve got one that just sits by the sofa and you can pick it up any time to have a little noodle. It’s more than just a guitar for your holidays.
Do you have any famous/professional customers you can tell us about?
We’ve been lucky to work with a couple of different pro players. Jakko Jakszyk took our Solo model on tour with King Crimson. And we’ve recently had some really great session players, Sonia Konate and Stanley Andrew, take our guitars on tour with Billy Ocean.
It’s great to see the repair services you offer, how important is this to your business and your customers?
It’s something we started doing after the pandemic, and it’s been really great for local engagement in our business. We’ve been able to use the things we’ve learned in producing our own guitars to help local players fix or service their instruments, and it’s given us an insight into what our customers want from their guitars, which has been great to feedback into our own designs. We’re a small outfit and our personal customer service is something we know we’ve got in our favour. We want our customers to know that we’re available to help them with any of their guitar needs and we’ve found that people have chosen to buy the guitars we make as a result.
What’s the most recent gig you’ve been to? AND/OR What music are you listening to?
My most recent is Courtney Pine at Colchester Art Centre, an incredible jazz musician and by all accounts a lovely man. We love a wide range of music at the workshop, which is why we’re so keen to have as many different players as possible use our guitars.
