1. Simon Raw: 07734 139 320: simon@rawguitars.net www.rawguitars.net The Raw Guitar Co. Portfolio & Proposed Retail Catalogue © 2011 The Raw Guitar Co. All rights reserved

2. The Raw Guitar Co. “The guitars look fantastic. I can’t wait to hear what they sound like.” Matt Anderson, Canadian Blues\Rock Guitarist and Recording Artist We are a new company devoted to designing a range of guitars that incorporate state-of-the art electronic components, avant-garde in style, yet reflective of the guitars you love. Working closely with professional guitarists, we strive to create, design and develop a range of guitars that appeal to musicians and who require that little bit more from their instruments. The Raw Guitar Co. are proud of what we have designed and we hope you like them too.

3. The Raw Guitar Co. We have always loved the old guitars from the 1950s that were sold in the United States through Sears & Roebuck catalogues and similar outlets. Manufacturers like Harmony, Kay, National, Univox and Valco to name but a few designed some pretty cool and iconic looking guitars back then. Great Blues guitarists like Elmore James, Jimmy Reed and Hubert Sumlin played catalogue guitars. Today, Jack White and Ian Siegal play them. In homage to those wonderful instruments and the music created on them, we have designed a range of guitars that have their roots deep in Chicago and this is why we call them...... Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue

4. Mahogany semi-hollow body with Maple top. Mahogany neck with Rosewood fretboard. Two Lollar custom “DeArmond” single coil pickups with polished nickel blades or with aesthetically pleasing P-90 style covers. These pickups create a modern interpretation of tones pioneered by Jimmy Reed and Howlin’ Wolf. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Skinny” (Designed For Ian Siegal)

5. Ian has a passion for collecting and playing vintage Harmony and Kay guitars. When he discovered that we were working on our “Something...” series he asked if we could design him a guitar that was in-keeping with his collection. Inspiration for this guitar came from the Jimmy Reed Kay Thin Twin and the Harmony Jupiter. The pickups have been exclusively designed by legendary pickup builder, Jason Lollar. We asked Jason to design us a modern interpretation of the “DeArmond” sound thereby reflecting tones produced by Jimmy Reed and Howlin’ Wolf. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Skinny” (Designed For Ian Siegal)

6. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Thunderstorm” “You’re on to a good thing here.” David Gogo, Canadian Blues\Rock Guitarist and Recording Artist Mahogany semi-hollow body with Maple top. Mahogany neck with Rosewood fretboard. Lollar ’50s Wind P-90 pickup at the neck reflecting the ’53 Les Paul Gold Top tone. Lollar custom “DeArmond” single coil in the middle reflecting tones created by such Blues luminaries as Jimmy Reed and Howlin’ Wolf. Lollar Low Wind Imperial Humbucker at the bridge. This pickup is based on the lower output PAF's often found in vintage 335's creating tones favoured by The King’s.

7. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Thunderstorm” “You’re on to a good thing here.” David Gogo, Canadian Blues\Rock Guitarist and Recording Artist During our research into American catalogue guitars from the late 1950s and early ’60s we came across a guitar manufactured by Valco called The Thunderstick. We immediately fell in love with the name and the guitar so we decided to design a modern day tribute. Any guitar that had the name The Thunderstick had to be acknowledged and revived. We spent a lot of time looking at pickup options for our modern interpretation. After a lot of head scratching and consultation with Jason Lollar and professional guitarists, we came up with what we feel is the ideal combination for reflecting the tone and sound of 1950s urban Chicago Blues.

8. Mahogany semi-hollow body with Maple top. Mahogany neck with Rosewood fretboard. Lollar custom “Elmore James” single coil pickup reflecting Elmore’s dark, moody and heavy slide sound. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Broom Duster”

9. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Broom Duster” Elmore James is considered by many musical historians to be one of the most important artists in the history and development of the Blues. With his blistering riffs, fiercely intense slide playing and metallic voice, Elmore James embodied the essence of urban Chicago Blues in the 1950’s and early ‘60s. He was known as The King of the Slide Guitar and the electric guitar he played was a 1952 Silvertone labelled, Kay K-125 that featured a single DeArmond pickup. This guitar was offered in Kay’s 1952 catalogue and was Kay’s first solid bodied construction. Finding an identical Kay K-125 guitar today is almost impossible as they were only in production for a year. Consequently, this guitar has all but been forgotten, until now. This is our contemporary tribute to James’ electric guitar. The pickup has been designed by Jason Lollar and reflects Elmore’s dark, moody and heavy slide sound. One interesting feature that we discovered while researching Elmore and the guitars he played was that he had, at sometime in the mid 1950s, removed the top half of the pickguard from his Kay electric and put it on his acoustic. Why he did that is anyone’s guess! We have replicated Elmore’s removal because it seemed appropriate and in-keeping with Elmore’s spirit.

10. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Krazy Kat” “Cool guitar. It’s nice to see someone creating instruments that move away from the norm and offer some individuality.” Dave Arcari, British Blues\Rock Guitarist and Recording Artist Alder solid-body. Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard. Three Lollar custom “DeArmond” single coil pickups reflecting the tones created by Pat Hare, Hubert Sumlin and all those other cool “Dudes” that played the clubs in and around Chicago during the 1950s and ’60s.

11. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Krazy Kat” Last year, and quite by chance, we stumbled across a website that advertised old vintage guitars for sale and we were immediately drawn to an unusual 1965 Kay Vanguard. We were impressed by the simplicity of it’s design and how the blue and white colour scheme complimented the guitar perfectly. We took inspiration from this guitar and created an evolutionary, contemporary design that pays respect to the original, yet has an identity all of it’s own. We have called this design “The Krazy Kat” in recognition of Krazy Kat Music, the company in San Antonio, Texas, whose website we stumbled across and whose “inspiration” helped create the guitar you see here. “Cool guitar. It’s nice to see someone creating instruments that move away from the norm and offer some individuality.” Dave Arcari, British Blues\Rock Guitarist and Recording Artist

12. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Sunset Strip” Mahogany semi-hollow body with Maple top. Mahogany neck with Maple fretboard. Three TV Jones T-Armond pickups.

13. One guitar that was popular back in the day was the Kay Value Leader. This guitar could be purchased with one, two or three DeArmond single coil pickups and was a great guitar for playing bottleneck slide. One of it’s design features was the metal pickguard that almost ran the full length of the body. One Blues luminary who played a Value Leader was J.B. Hutto and in recognition to his sublime musicianship we have created a modern day tribute. We have replicated the original pickguard with an airbrushed sunburst reflection and chosen three T-Armond pickups to reproduce a modern interpretation of Mr Hutto’s inspiring playing. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Sunset Strip”

14. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Flathead” Mahogany semi-hollow body with Maple top. Mahogany neck with Rosewood fretboard. Lollar Supro Steel Guitar “Coodercaster” pickup. Lollar “Dearmond” single coil pickup with black P-90 cover.

15. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Flathead” One guitar that was very cool back in the 1950s was the Valco made Supro Ozark. This instrument came with either a single neck pickup or a steel guitar bridge pickup that later became immortalised by Ry Cooder. The Ozark was also the first guitar ever owned and played by Jimi Hendrix. Howlin’ Wolf had an Ozark in his collection as does Joe Perry today. Our modern interpretation has a Lollar “DeArmond” single coil pickup at the neck and a Lollar Supro Steel Guitar pickup at the bridge. If you admire the silky bottleneck tones of Mr Cooder or the pioneering tones of Mr DeArmond then this guitar is for you.

16. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Nighthawk” Alder solid-body. Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard. Two TV Jones Classic pickups.

17. Something Old, New, Borrowed & Blue “The Nighthawk” Our catalogue couldn’t be complete until we paid our respects to the Harmony Guitar Company. The company was owned by Sears, Roebuck & Company and in the early ‘50s they introduced two iconic solid- bodied guitars, namely, the H-42 and H-44 Stratotone. These two guitars were very popular back in the day because they were relatively cheap to buy and they sounded great. One popular Blues musician who played a Harmony H-42 Stratotone was Robert Nighthawk. Born in Helena, Arkansas, Nighthawk was a sublime slide guitarist who recorded for Chess Records and throughout the early ‘60’s could be found playing on Chicago’s Maxwell Street. In respect to Nighthawk and all the other musicians who played on Maxwell Street we have created an evolutionary, contemporary design that pays respect to the original H-42 and H-44 models. We have chosen two TV Jones Classic pickups to reproduce a modern interpretation of Nighthawk’s playing.

18. Something A Little More Familiar “The Palette Knife” Ovangkol semi-hollow body with maple top and artwork finish. Maple neck and Rosewood fretboard. Lollar Low Wind Imperial Humbucker pickups. Fishman Tune-O-Matic Powerbridge with built in acoustic piezo pickup. Fishman Powerchip mixing preamp. For Those Who Want To Mix It Up A Little... “Love it. Great design for a contemporary guitar.” Ian Siegal, British Blues\Rock Guitarist and Recording Artist

19. Something A Little More Familiar “The Palette Knife” Apart from our “Something...” series of guitars that have been created using different shades of “blue”, we have also produced something that is a little more colourful. This is our take on one of the most popular electric guitars ever played. We love the shape because it is so versatile, leading to countless design possibilities. One such possibility was to install an acoustic pickup, thereby, creating a hybrid. We have spent considerable time experimenting with different hybrid construction techniques in order to maximise the acoustic tone. Thanks also to Fishman technological advancement, we have been able to create a guitar that can offer the electric guitarist a palette of incredible acoustic and electric sounds. We would like to think that the artwork is reflective of those sounds and tones too. “Love it. Great design for a contemporary guitar.” Ian Siegal, British Blues\Rock Guitarist and Recording Artist

20. Ovangkol semi-hollow body with Maple top. Artwork finish. Maple neck and Rosewood fretboard. Lollar P-90 soap bar style pickups. Something A Little More Familiar “The Paint Brush”

21. For those who want to be a little more colourful... Something A Little More Familiar “The Paint Brush”