Francesco Filigoi

Disclaimer: I write this with all my honesty in hope that some people will change their mind about Blackmachine Guitars and won't care anymore about what they read off random FB comments.

---

Blackmachine Guitars is not a company, not a factory, not a big brand or business at all. It's the culmination of one guy's artistic expression and innovation applied in luthiery. From the idea, to the aesthetics, design and sound he has in his head.

---

This guy is Douglas Campbell: since being very young, he's been interested in building and making things like radios and other stuff. He then got interested in guitars/basses and what came to his mind was "hey that's cool!........how can I make it better?".
From then, crafting instruments has been his main passion and focus at a level so deep that is hard to understand.

---

The main concept is building something that while classic in its roots, screams innovation and personality. Something that is very lightweight, with extreme playability and ergonomics but that doesn't sacrifice tone or resonance at all. Actually, design or aesthetics is not the priority, tone always is.
During the years he’s been perfecting these concepts to the smallest details, building better and better guitars as time passes.

---

There are many aspects that I find unique and beyond excellent about his creations, but first I’d like to address some of the most common critics that I often read about Blackmachine:

---

1) “The headstock is copied from Parker Guitars”
The main inspiration behind the Blackmachine headstock is B.C. Rich (source - Doug). Take a look here: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3521/5750017818_db691d09a0.jpg
Of course it has been reshaped and redesigned, but the resemblance is pretty apparent.

---

2) “Doug is a genius marketer that creates hype about his guitars to then sell them at absurdly high prices”
Never in his life Doug has advertised his product publicly, the only “showcase” being his modest website with very short info and pictures available, and bringing his guitars to other people’s fair booths. He doesn’t have Facebook, doesn’t run Blackmachine’s Facebook page. He doesn’t even answer all the emails since he just focuses on the craft. That’s because it’s not a company, it’s just one man doing what he loves more. Doug builds guitars. Other people create hype.

---

3) “Blackmachines are just bare bones Ibanez RGs”
Highly debatable. I could also say that RGs are like Stratocasters but with sharper edges. While to some extent I can agree that the shape is not that revolutionary (like Strandberg for example), at the same time it is VERY recognizable, which is the most important thing.
He was brave enough to experiment with incredibly thin bodies and that headstock design when everyone was convinced it wouldn’t work, but he made it work. Other unique traits of his guitars to be discussed later.

---

4) Ask.fm has a character limit, if you wanna hear the rest click here: http://bit.ly/ItbiYz

View more