Lord of the strings

Ehsaan Noorani becomes the first Indian to have his own Signature guitar.

Music composer and guitarist Ehsaan Noorani is one busy man these days. After making a very jetlagged presence at the Rock awards on Thursday, Noorani who recently arrived from Los Angeles is working on organising a mega bash to launch his signature series of guitars this month. “I’m excited. It’s an honour to be an endorsee of a signature series. It doesn't get better than this,” says Noorani, who will be the first Indian to have a Fender Stratocaster series to his name.

HT Image

Fender supplies a variety of signature models, each with specifications similar to those used by well-known performers across the world. Previously, Fender signature series endorsees include the likes of guitar gods such as Mark Knopfler, Elvis Costello, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix. Contemporary guitarist John Mayer too has a series to his credit. “It’s a long process. The Fender distributor in India, Sara Trans, put forward the proposal last year to have my Squier Stratocaster series in India. It so happened that my friend from music school, Chris Jill was working on the project fro Fender. So we sat on the design and the specifications, and that’s how things just worked out.”

Noorani’s signature series will be available in four colours- blue, purple, red, green and is expected to hit stores in 20 days. “The neck shape is designed for smaller hands and has a comfortable size that suits Indian fingers,” adds Noorani. Although signature series usually differ significantly in terms of quality and construction, thereby making them much more expensive, Noorani adds that his electric guitar series will be modestly priced around Rs 30,000. “The response I've got so far from people who have played the guitar has been fantastic,” signs off the guitarist, who has a collection of over 20 guitars at home.