Not all Gallo custom-made guitars make it to the blog, but this one is so special that it’s very worth remarking on. This one, I made for Jay Pee Chroma, the lead singer of Purse. It had been very long in the planning and is now a reality.
I met Purse in January after I moved to Boston. I have known Jay Pee all my life, so when I came up here, he introduced me to his band and invited me to some of their rehearsals. Back in the beginning of the year, Purse was starting to produce a new set of songs for their new EP and had in the plans to start touring once they had a solid set of funk-rock songs to get you dancing.
This is a very cool story. As I settled here in Boston and got installed in the new Gallo Guitars studio, Jay Pee, Juan and Eithan were also working very hard in their musical project. It is like we have both been growing together, moving forward and not stopping at any cost. Now that Purse is finally touring, it seemed fit to finally design a guitar that would add to the funkiness of their act.
During the past month, I met with Jay several times to talk about designing his new guitar. At first we talked about making a Purse-inspired guitar to evoke their funkiness, but then we decided to custom-make a guitar catered to Jay Pee’s taste. As we kept meeting, Jay kept stressing his love for funk, the white/purple combination and all the influence he’s got from Prince. He also talked about how much he liked the curviness of poster-art during the 70’s and how much he would love to have a guitar inspired by that. It all sounded great, but now the challenge was up for me to create something resembling to Jay Pee’s character.
At first, I was tested by the looseness of a 70’s graphically-inspired design. As I kept sketching, I realized that Gallo Guitars are very curvy themselves and that’s when I was able to move forward. Instead of saturating the inside of the guitar with curves, I decided to accentuate its silhouette, which added to Jay Pee’s desire of a minimalist use of lights and gave me a design that I could finally work with.
The guitar went through its routine creation process, which included creating a color scheme, digital sketching and physically making it. When it was all done, I added Jay Pee’s artistic last name “Chroma” to give the guitar a personal touch and put it on the drying rack. When the guitar was ready I contacted Jay Pee and personally gave it to him. I was very excited because this guitar is not only an instrument, but is also a symbol of persistence on both of our parts. I am as proud of Jay Pee and Purse, as I know he is for Gallo Guitars and for me.
I cannot wait to see Purse finally playing a Gallo on stage and it will happen sooner than later. Want a clue? Go to Club Bohemia in Cambridge at 9pm and you will be in for a great surprise!
-Jose Gallo-
