Rare Guitar Starred on U2’s Joshua Tree Was Built in Dorset
The Edge played a carbon fibre Bond Electraglide on U2's 1987 album The Joshua Tree. Andrew Bond built the fretless-neck guitar in Poole, Dorset, and his son Ashley is now reviving the brand with a new prototype, as U2 mark 50 years.
The rare guitar that starred on U2's best-selling album, The Joshua Tree, was designed and made in Poole, Dorset. The Edge played the Bond Electraglide, an instrument built from a single piece of carbon fibre, on the 1987 record.
The attention comes in a week when U2 released their 16th studio album, Carnaval de Luz. Long-term fans still point to their fifth album as the one that cemented the band's status. The Joshua Tree has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1988.
A repair shop invention
"My father invented one of the most revolutionary electric guitars of all time in the very late 70s," said Ashley Bond, son of the maker, Andrew Bond.
Andrew was "into woodwork and carpentry" and began repairing local people's guitars. Demand grew, so he took a workshop in Hamworthy and started building his own.
Two things set the Electraglide apart. It had no traditional frets, because the neck had a sawtooth design that removed the need for them. And the body and neck were one piece of carbon fibre.
Ben Crowe, a guitar maker at Crimson Guitars near Dorchester, believes the ideas came from Andrew's repair work. "He was doing fretwork over and over and over again," Crowe said. Wooden necks of that era moved as players went in and out of "sweaty, smoke-filled bars", while carbon fibre stayed stable.
Mixed reviews, famous owners
Players did not agree on how it performed. The Edge has said he could not get it to do anything for him until he stopped playing it properly and "really sort of abused it".
Around 1,400 were made. Andrew got them into the hands of Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, Mick Jones of the Clash and Will Sergeant of Echo & the Bunnymen.
A pre-production prototype owned by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour sold at auction for about £40,000 in 2019. Crowe said he bought one about 10 years ago. "It was mind-blowing, I was like a kid in a candy store," he said.
The brand returns
Earlier this year, Bond Guitars showed its first new guitar in more than 40 years. Ashley, who is based in Bournemouth and has taken on the company name, said he owes it to his late father to continue the legacy.
The first prototype is built from wood. A later model called the Halo will return to full carbon fibre. "I'm a mortgage underwriter by day, which is very different from building guitars, but I've always felt there was an unfinished story," Ashley said.
U2 are marking 50 years since they formed in Dublin in 1976. Their concert recorded at the Tate Modern in London, U2: Live on the BBC at Tate Modern, airs on BBC Two and iPlayer on November 28 at 21:50 GMT. A radio special with the concert audio and a new band interview follows on November 30, from 19:00 to 21:00, on Jo Whiley's Radio 2 show and BBC Sounds.
