I was 16 when I got my first guitar. I played it for six months until I couldn’t resist the temptation of those screws. So I took it apart and put it back together and realised that it’s basically just a block of wood with holes drilled in. I figured I could do the same thing.
That’s where Blondie came from. My dad has a fully kitted out workshop in the garage and he gave me some cheap pine to start. He didn’t want me ruining a nice piece of mahogany on my first go. So the finish was in a natural blonde and that name just fit. It wasn’t personal. I just got used to saying “I’m reaching for Blondie” or “I’m working on Blondie”.
That took a year of working on the weekends, sitting for hours sanding, sanding and sanding. I did all the woodwork and we bought the metal parts. It was a kind of bonding exercise. My dad would be working on a project and when I wasn’t, he would shout: “Why aren’t you working on the guitar?”
There’s something special about making a guitar by hand. Each one is unique. Sure, it’s just an assortment of mechanical things. Pickups, strings, wood. But once you put it all together it becomes its own thing. So Blondie has a lot of minor mistakes. You wouldn’t be able to see them but I do. It’s mine. That’s why it’s still my go-to guitar when I play slow blues and soft rock.
Most of my other guitars don’t have names. Blondie does. It was the start and now I make guitars for people. I’ve got nine on the go now. Word gets around. Musicians get a guitar with all that potential, I get cheap therapy making it. — Sashien Singh, 23, as told to Sipho Kings.