My name is Chris Delia and I am the sole person working under the name, Carillion. I am 30 years old and come from the medieval trading town of Dorking, England. I am obsessed with all things Sci-fi and all things death/tech metal. I have an impressive receding hairline, and have a fierce timber addiction that will likely be the death of me one day. If you are reading this I thank you for taking the time to visit this site and look at my work. Below is a very brief explanation of where this all started for me…
Well I guess my journey into luthiery was initially driven by the mainstream guitar industries lack of options for left handed players. Being left handed, I always found it hard to buy anything past an ‘entry level’ instrument without having to spend a few grand. That isn’t really an option when you’re on a budget so I decided to enroll on the full time musical instrument course at South Thames college (Merton campus) in south London and do the full 3 years of study in the hope that I’d be able to create my dream guitar.
My studies saw me become consumed by a fierce thirst for knowledge. I wanted to learn EVERYTHING and quickly absorbed everything I could.
I graduated and have subsequently (over the past 5+ years, since graduating) taken Carillion from a luthiery students ‘college identity’ into a fully fledged business with a comfortably sized, fully equipped workshop, a large stock of timber to select from and a continually growing client list. I feel truly blessed to be able to do this for a living, and I never take it for granted.
My aim with Carillion now is pretty simple. I want it to be the first place people go when they want a superior quality instrument. I want it to be the company people think of when they want superior build quality and absolute tonal excellence. These are all of the things luthiers normally plaster all over their websites – how fantastic their instruments are and how amazing they sound. I didn’t really want to fill this website with all of that salesman bullshit as those things are not for me to decide. I know that I am producing instruments to a very high standard now, but ultimately it is for my customers to decide whether these things are true or not. I just do my job to the best of my abilities and do my best to build what my customers see (and hear) in their heads when they commission from me. So far I have had no complaints.
If you have an interest in learning the basic skills of luthiery and are based in the south of England I strongly suggest that you enroll on one of the courses offered by South Thames College. The tutors are absolutely fantastic and have extensive knowledge of all fields of luthiery, from traditional violin making right through to modern ERG construction. They offer full time, part time and evening courses and accept students of all ages.
www.south-thames.ac.uk/courses/
