According to The Times of London Australian blues/roots artist Geoff Achison is “Possibly one of the most gifted musicians to arrive on the scene … His playing verges on the miraculous.” The list of awards and acknowledgments for this musician is long and includes the Memphis Blues Foundation’s Albert King Award. While Australia is the setting for the majority of his concerts, his international tours typically include one to two months in the states and in European. Geoff’s 2011 US tour ran the entire month of June. A special feature on stage with Geoff for this year’s tour was a custom acoustic guitar that he commissioned N.C. luthier Jay Lichty, of Lichty Guitars, to build.

“You can play a lot of very well made factory instruments but there’s something truly special about a totally hand crafted instrument. Over the years I’ve had some nice axes come my way, but my custom Lichty is making me re-think what I expect from an acoustic guitar. It is a work of art.” – Geoff Achison

Lichty specializes in building custom acoustic guitars and ukuleles. He works closely with each musician in the design process to ensure that their instrument is a perfect fit – acoustically, visually, esthetically. In addition to Achison, top performing artists who play Lichty’s include: Tom and Mike Gossin of top country band Gloriana, Doug Lancio, Nashville producer and lead guitarist for John Hiatt, Jody Porter of Fountains of Wayne, Carolina singer/songwriter Haley Dreis, Jonathan Gray and more.

"Lichty is destined to be one of those guitar builders whose instruments becomes classics. What most excites me about Jay’s guitars is how well they sound on record. We have tons of options around the studio but when tracking acoustics everyone in the control room usually says “go with the Lichty.” – Jody Porter.