My story

Back to Main Page

My name is John Iliov and I am a luthier (guitar maker) from Canada.
I have been playing the guitar since the age of 15 and have always loved rock music. My main musical influences are: Deep Purple (Mark II),
Ted Nugent (his first 3 albums are a Must Own!), Robin Trower, Rainbow (the Dio years), Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Alice Cooper, The Yardbirds, Judas Priest and early ZZ Top.
(Modern rock music, haaah...what a joke!)

I started making guitars as a hobby and as each guitar was completed, I realized that my guitars sounded just as good, if not better than the overpriced brand-name guitars.
My mission was to study all of the brand name guitars, inside and out, and create a better guitar.

It all started with a fit of rage by my brother Chris. I had left my Les Paul on the couch, which seemed to annoy him because I
always left my guitars on the couch. Without thinking, he dropped my Les Paul on the floor, which broke the headstock! He didn't
even realize that he broke it until I approached him and showed what he had done to my poor, defenseless guitar.

I then realized that this was a message, a sign if you will, from the gods. I stripped all the parts from the guitar and decided to
build my own from scratch. I went out and bought a band saw and a router, and made a couple of practice guitars from spruce and
pine. I bought a book on guitar construction and was then confident enough to make the real thing.

My first guitar had a White Ash body and a Maple neck and fret board. The body shape was modelled after a large Gibson hollowbody, with the body thickness measuring 1 7/8". This sucker weighed over 11 pounds! The pickups were EMG active humbuckers which, combined with the dense Ash body had a nice biting tone.
When it was finished, I was pleased with the guitar, but I knew that I could make one even better.

The second guitar was constructed entirely of Maple. I didn't like the Les Paul sound because it sounded too mushy from the neck pickup. That's why I chose Maple for the body. The guitar sounded great from the neck pickup, but there was a problem. The bridge pickup was too close to the bridge, which made the tone too bright. The sheer weight of the instrument was also an issue. I went back to the drawing board and found that a semi hollow body was the answer.

This is what remains of my 1st semi hollow guitar. The body wood was Red Oak, which I stained
an outrageous lime green. It only tipped the scales at a meager 4 pounds. The sound was incredibly fat and warm! When I compared it to my Fender Stratocaster, I could not believe how thin the Strat sounded. This was a fair comparision because I had single coil pickups in this guitar. It was
apparent to me that the hollow tone chambers added warmth and character to a guitars' sound. The attack of a picked note is delayed, which creates a fattening or compressor effect. Single notes become more audible over a rhythm guitar and don't get lost during a guitar solo.

I knew that I could not stop there, so I kept building more and more. I was addicted like a junkie on smack! I ate, breathed and lived guitars. I spent countless hours doing research on the internet, learning the workings of an electric guitar inside, and out. I put my heart, soul, sweat, and sometimes blood into every guitar I make ( sandpaper is not kind to the skin )! I try to achieve, as close to humanly possible, perfection with each guitar I build. I hope you like my work and would like to put a JCi Customized guitar in your hands in the near future!

My Story