Brief History of SUHR Guitars

When you think of Suhr guitars, what comes to mind? Is it Mark Knopfler playing his famous Pensa Suhr model? Is it somebody like Ian Thornley from Big Wreck? Maybe you love the brand for their innovative take on classic S and T-type guitars?

Suhr are many things to many players. This includes amplifiers, effects and decades of making superlative instruments. The brand orbits around creator John Suhr, whose industry experience is comprehensive, to say the least.

In today’s Brief History article, I aim to pull back the curtain a little and see the backstory to Suhr guitars. I've actually been lucky enough to have a number of conversations with John over the years, so I’ll use those direct experiences to inform what I discuss today. If you’re a Suhr fan, then this article will likely highlight why you love them; and if you are maybe a more fair weather fan, then perhaps this will deepen your appreciation.

Either way, I’ll show you some gorgeous guitars and amps on the way, so let’s go!

I suppose the story begins with an 18 year old guitarist who’d just come out of car racing and taking his engines apart. There was an interest in figuring out how things worked, what made them tick, and what could be done to improve them. John Suhr’s love of guitars didn’t stop him from challenging why certain decisions were made, such as how narrow the necks on his old 70s Strats were, or how the rounded vintage radius would make some notes choke out when they were bent.

An encounter with a luthier named Bob Benedetto resulted in Suhr being shown how to build a guitar. Benedetto was loath to introduce the young man to the dicey financial world of guitar-building, but could see a passionate and inquiring mind, and so let the young man watch as he built a guitar. John followed suit and built his own instrument. Dismayed at how badly an outsourced inlay job went on this guitar, Suhr vowed never to let other people touch his guitars.

Any story about Suhr guitars has to include Pensa-Suhr. Rudy’s Music Stop in NYC was - and still is - an important part of the Noo Yoik music scene, and in the 70s, a young John Suhr joined the team as a repair person. He started building guitars out of the premises in 1974, slowly but surely gaining a reputation for creating beautiful and playable guitars.

Pensa-Suhr guitars came to the attention of the wider world thanks to Mark Knopfler, who widely used one of their creations, dubbed the MK1. This amber sunburst double cut featured distinctive white EMG pickups and a lovely gold Floyd Rose tremolo system. 

It was an eye-catchingly gorgeous guitar and still is: both Pensa (the brand today) and Suhr offer their take on that model today, for all the people who still love the style.

In 1991, John moved on from New York to work with Bob Bradshaw in Los Angeles. Best known for the celebrity guitarists' pedalboards and switching systems, Bradshaw is also a significant amp designer. Suhr was similarly obsessed with amps, and took this opportunity to focus more on this side of things.

He collaborated with Bradshaw in developing several preamp circuits for Bradshaw’s Custom Audio Electronics brand, modding amps and building racks. Suhr made a number of custom amps during this time, and also went back to building around 50 or so custom guitars (so much for taking a break!) that are now extremely sought after. These rare guitars have ‘built for’ handwritten into their neck pockets, making them easy to identify.

In 1995, John became a senior Master Builder at the Fender Custom Shop. This was the last job he took before starting his own business. According to Suhr, he took the job in order to provide some financial security for him and his pregnant wife. After two years, he’d figured out how he wanted to approach his own builds, and what he wanted to avoid. It was time to branch out on his own!

Suhr guitars - or JS Technologies Inc, to give it its Sunday name - began in 1997. The company was headed up by John his associate Steve Smith. Suhr brought the guitar building skills and Smith knew about management. Together, they learned about software and CNC routing machines, in order to make Suhr guitars a masterful mix of hand-work and precision.

The company has expanded exponentially over the years, but is still a small boutique business. Operating out of Lake Elsinore in California, Suhr produce custom made guitars, amplifiers and effects pedals.

Suhr guitars are noted for their beauty and precision, but also for their innovation. One such thing is John’s SSCII passive hum cancelling technology, which allow players to use distorted tones with single coil pickups and have no background noise. Another is the locking bridge technology, developed with Trevor Wilkinson, which are often found on Suhr guitars and which do not require a locking nut.

This is on top of the thousands of minute innovations in shape, size, fit and measure that goes into every custom build. Add to that the wonderful hand-made pickups that are all wound in the same workshop as the guitars, and you have an environment where creativity and precision go hand in hand.

As you’ll have ascertained, John Suhr is as passionate about amplifiers as he is about the guitars themselves. Indeed, his office desk at the Suhr premises has unofficially become an amplifier testing lab, as John refines and rewires his circuit boards and enclosures. The Suhr amps range is expansive, serving up heads and combos that met the needs of players such as Pete Thorn and Ian Thornley as well as smaller Tweed combos like the Suhr Hombre.

I spoke to John about this particular amp, which stemmed from a love of early ZZ Top: “Well, I’m a big Billy Gibbons fan from the early days of ZZ Top, primarily the first three records. It always seemed to be a mystery to me about what he played on those records: we always assume that he’s playing a Les Paul with a Marshall, but in reality, he played more Fender guitars and he also used a lot of small amps. This is an homage to probably...he’s very elusive on what he actually used, but a lot of people assume he used a ‘Brownface’ Deluxe from the same kinda era that I’m talking about, ’63-ish.

It’s like the dirtiest little amp that ever came from that era (laughs). It’s just a beautiful sound. To me, it’s kind of a hybrid between a Fender and a Marshall but that’s the way they sounded back then too, and that’s the way my amp sounds.”

John Suhr isn’t a believer in ‘Mojo’, or any other arcane, superstitious terms for why one guitar seems better than another. Everything is measurable, and everything is repeatable. This means that Suhr guitars do not trade in any mythical past, or indeed on anything other than well-designed guitars that are crafted to near-perfection. John is also refreshingly honest about what is important in great tone and what isn’t, as he told Guitar World:

“Sometimes the artist sells the guitar, but I like a guitar to sell itself. The exact model doesn’t matter as much as people think. Some of us, including myself, can get a little neurotic in our passion and chase. I’m not trying to shoot myself in the foot here, but you don’t need the same instrument as someone else to achieve the same response and tone. I’d actually argue the speakers in your amp are more important than your pickups.”

That isn’t an attitude normally displayed by boutique builders! But John Suhr is not a typical boutique builder, and Suhr are not a typical brand. Considering he’s made amps with Bo Bradshaw and was formerly a Senior Master Builder at the Fender Custom Shop, I’d recommend paying close attention to what he says!

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