Most of us have thought about refinishing our instruments at some point – a new paint job, relic’ing, or simply caking it in stickers. Teddy McDonald feels the same way – but as an artist by trade, he doesn’t do things by halves.
His custom guitar paint jobs caught the eye of Ed Sheeran, who used McDonald’s own re-finished ‘Green T’ Eric Clapton Strat on his Multiply tour. That led to McDonald teaming up with Clapton’s go-to guitar artist, Crash, also at the behest of Sheeran.
Outside of the occasional guitar, you’ll find McDonald working with a host of iconic brands, and names that are more in keeping with the hi-faluting art world, from Ferrari right through to the British Royal Family. His work combines bold colors and iconography in bright, brash designs.
Strange to say, there’s something of the stage about his work – as is his endearingly tenacious eye for self-promotion. Having been raised on a musical diet of Eric Clapton, blues rock and ’90s alt names, guitar playing holds a special place in McDonald’s heart – and his day-to-day process.
“My father died when I was nine,” he says. “When I started playing, I was just hoping to find some way of distracting myself, because it was all very unexpected. And it’s been with me ever since. I’ve always got a guitar sitting in front of me. If I feel I’ve got a block, even 20 minutes of playing helps. It just kind of feels like part of me.”
As an artist and designer by trade, it’s fair to say an instrument’s aesthetics hold more significance than your average player. It follows, then, that he developed a particular admiration for street artist John Matos’ ‘Crashocaster’ designs – the custom-painted models commissioned by Eric Clapton – and the Strat itself. And he wasn’t alone in his appreciation of the models, which brings us to his work with Sheeran.
Is it true you initially got in touch with Ed Sheeran to point out he was using a fake Crashocaster?
“Well, I’ve always liked Crash’s guitars that he did for Clapton in the early 2000s, and I just happened to see this photo of Ed Sheeran with Beyoncé at a Grammy event.
“I kind of looked at the guitar and thought, ‘Did Eric Clapton lend him that?’ I got in touch with Crash, who was quite matter-of-fact: ‘That’s not my guitar. That’s not Eric’s.’ There was a kind of a not-happy-about-this vibe going on.
“So I got in touch with Ed’s people and said, ‘This isn’t what you think it is,’ and they came back saying, ‘Okay, we’ll stop playing that, then. But we’re about to go back out for the second half of the Multiply tour. What’s Ed going to play?’
“To me it was like, ‘He’s Ed Sheeran – can’t he get a guitar?’ I suddenly went, ‘Right, I’ve got Green T here, my custom-painted Clapton Strat. Would you like to borrow that?’ It was kind of tongue in cheek, but it came back, ‘Yeah, I’d love to!’
“It was the most random thing in the world; but they collected it from me. Ed’s guitar tech made some adjustments to it and then it spent the rest of the Multiply tour traveling around the world with him.”
So how did the Crash x Teddy M Strat come about?
“The idea was, ‘Now Ed wants a real Crash, so can you work with Crash and come up with a guitar?’ I said, ‘Have you got any direction for us?’ ‘No guys, just take it away. Ed puts everything in your hands – we trust you.’ And that was it!
“And it was a hands-down proper commission. A lot of people, early on in my career, would sort of come to me and expect me to do stuff for free.”
For “exposure.” Yes, we’re familiar with that…
“So Ed was an absolutely straight-up guy. It was ‘this is the price’ and everything was paid on time. They couldn’t be easier to work with in – no questions, no qualms. So he’s a top bloke and deserves his success, from my experience.”
It didn’t feel like my guitar when it came back… that’s the reason I sold it
Green T is a striking instrument.
“I had a Fender Clapton guitar in Candy Green – or 7-Up green – which was my favorite color. I was inspired by Clapton’s guitars and what Crash had done, but I’m not a graffiti artist. I didn’t grow up in that world; so I gave it my own take.
“My work is quite graphical. I was looking for some sort of symbolism that I could put on there that was purely creative for me. I came up with a star symbol, which has positive connotations – the lightning strike – which I inverted to also it looks a bit like an M and the initial T.
“I just made it to amuse myself. So to have it sitting at home, and then the next thing to see it on Good Morning America in Central Park in New York, in Ed Sheeran’s hands, was a bit of a pinch-yourself moment!”
When that guitar came back to you, what kind of shape was it in?
“You’ll probably get it – it didn’t feel like my guitar when it came back. And that’s the reason why I sold it. It wasn’t worse for wear; it just didn’t feel like mine. Whether it was the setup, or the changes from traveling around the world, I just kind of fell out of love with it.”
This is one of those Harry Potter ‘wand choosing a new master’ moments, isn’t it?
“There’s some truth in that. It came back to me just before he played the Wembley Stadium gigs in 2015, because we exchanged it at Rocket Music in London. I went down with the Teddy M guitar and then they gave me Green T back.
“I kept it for a month or so before I thought, ‘I don’t really feel it anymore.’ I felt, for what I do in my career, ‘Now’s the time to sell it.’ I spoke to Ed’s manager, Stuart Camp, who was very kind and agreed to provide a letter explaining Ed had played it, where, for how long and everything. That was the provenance that then helped Bonhams achieve twice the estimate when they auctioned it.
“The strangest thing, though, is that I have no idea where it is, or who owns it. Bonhams wouldn’t tell me for data protection reasons. Whoever has it never stepped up and said, ‘Hi, I got your guitar,’ or asked me about it – so they’re obviously not an art collector!”
Well, maybe if they’re a guitar collector, they’ll see this piece and get in touch.
“Yeah! Part of me wonders whether it went back into Ed’s collection. But I don’t know if he has affiliation with guitars, and if he keeps them for sentimental reasons. I’d be interested to know who owns it and where it is in the world.”
Then you collaborated with Crash on the Crash x Teddy M Strat. What were the ideas behind that design?
My favorite Crashocaster is Crash I – I love the layout of that
“Crash is in New York and I’m in the Cotswolds in the UK. So there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing; and, very quickly, it was agreed that Crash would do the hard work. I said, ‘My favorite Crashocaster is Crash I – I love the layout of that, so maybe we should start with that and go from there.’
“The color scheme was dictated by Crash’s interest in colors. But I also wanted to put in some of my own signature colors. The blues and the greens and the pinks were colors that I use quite commonly in my work.
“Then his signature all-seeing eye was obviously going to feature on it. And I was working with a stylized heart design that I’d used in my work. So I sent him templates of that, and then he did all the hard work, using the spray paints.”
So where was that guitar used?
“The first time that was seen publicly was the Wembley Stadium shows in 2015 towards the end of the Multiply tour. It features on Jumpers For Goalpoststhe concert movie where he plays Thinking Out Loud. And then it became, from what I’ve seen, his dominant electric guitar throughout the majority of the Divide tour, until he teamed up with Lowden guitars and moved over to something else.
“So from 2015 right through to 2019 I had that period where people were asking me about it – not bad publicity! I believe that guitar is also in a private collection.
“Obviously Eric Clapton knew, because of his friendship with Crash, that we’ve done this guitar. At some point he asked Crash to create a special Crashocaster for Ed, which is the one that you see Ed play now.
“Whether Ed will drag out the Crash Teddy M guitar again, I don’t know, but he played it at Glastonbury as well, which was nice of him. So, while I call myself a hobbyist musician, it’s like, ‘A little bit of me’s been to Glastonbury!’”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings