Lowden Guitars and Ed Sheeran have teamed up again for a new limited edition Sheeran By Lowden acoustic guitar celebrating the pop-megastar’s new number one album, Autumn Variations.
As we have come to expect from these collaborations, the Autumn Variations is a small-bodied ‘W-sized’ acoustic with a comfortable 24” scale, a mahogany neck, and it is replete with some lovely touches from George Lowden, including a forearm-friendly bevel, fallen leaves detail, made from Spanish cedar, inlaid on the ebony fingerboard, and if you zoom in on the pictures below you’ll find acorns engraved on the bridge.
“I just wanted to mark the release of Autumn Variations by making a one-off guitar,” said Sheeran. “It’s got all the autumnal inlay that you can imagine, a wonderful engraved bridge, and it sounds beautiful.”
“We were delighted to hear about Ed’s plans to release Autumn Variations and were proud to work in partnership with him once again to develop a guitar to honour his latest piece of work,” said Lowden. “When creating this guitar we were inspired by the album’s unique concept and autumnal themes and are delighted with the quality, sound and richness of the final product.”
The sound and richness of the Autumn Variation’s acoustic voice comes from a build that pairs a premium solid sinker redwood top with figured walnut on the back and sides – a tonewood cocktail that will go down easily with the fingerstyle player.
Lowden’s W-sized acoustics were Sheeran’s introduction to the brand. Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody gave him a Wee Lowden back in 2013 and the rest is history.
Sheeran By Lowden now carries the Wee Lowden-inspired W series acoustics and the Small Lowden-inspired S Series acoustics as standard, with album tie-in special editions such as this available in limited quantities. They are only making 50 of the Autumn Variations model. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Straight out the padded gig bag, these Sheeran By Lowden models are ready for the stage, with this model equipped with a LR Baggs EAS VTC acoustic guitar pickup system, which has a low-frequency compressor to enhance your amplified acoustic tone. Volume and tone controls are mounted inside the soundhole.
Autumn Vibrations, the album, was released on 29 September and to the surprise of no one it debuted at number one. It is his second album of the year, following the release of Subtract (stylised as “-”) in May.
That, too, was commemorated with a special Subtract edition Sheeran By Lowden, which was available exclusively from Thomann and direct from the brand and limited to 200 units worldwide. Some of which are still available.
As is the Autumn Vibrations. It’s priced £995. For more details, see Sheeran By Lowden.
