Jackson Custom Shop Pat McGarry Masterbuilt Cracked Mirror Kelly HH EMG Pickups TOM String-Thru Body

Jackson Custom Shop Pat McGarry Masterbuilt Cracked Mirror Kelly HH EMG Pickups TOM String-Thru Body

PAT MCGARRY

JACKSON CUSTOM BUILDER

Pat McGarry joined Charvel® and Jackson® back in the original era, in 1982. Having previously worked with Mike Shannon at a custom furniture maker, McGarry was already an experienced woodworker.

He started out with Charvel and Jackson by making ebony fingerboards, book-matched tops and other specialized guitar elements, and he is the builder behind much of the rough-mill woodwork for countless artist and showpiece instruments. Few are better at “reading” the strength and tone of a piece of lumber for its best use in a guitar, and factory lore holds that McGarry can simply look at a piece of lumber and tell you where the tree it came from grew, what conditions it grew in and when the tree was felled.

McGarry’s expertise in milling lumber and matching grain is invaluable to Jackson, and his commitment to quality is absolute—sometimes to the chagrin of prospective new vendors who proclaim the merits of their wood, only to find themselves schooled by him on their own wares.

“It doesn’t matter if the guitar is going to be painted or get a natural finish,” he said. “The quality of the materials and the joinery are always the same. I build each guitar as if it were going to my favorite artist.”