BCBusiness

12 To p : P r e s t i g e G ui t a r s B C B U S I N E S S . C A J U N E 2 0 2 5 GO FIGURE by Michael McCullough NO MEAN FLEET Nothing says summer in B.C. more than standing on the deck of a ferry with the sun and wind in your face. Here are a few notable numbers around this quintessentially West Coast mode of transportation. Larrivée had ceased Canadian operations a year prior. "In all of Canada, I can only think of two other major guitar makers," says Kurkdjian, citing Montreal-based Godin and Saskatoon's Dingwall. "And so, inevitably, when Larrivée left, you had luthiers who had worked there for 10 or 15 years honing their craft, their passion, who were now out of necessity doing other work. So when I decided to build a factory here, it was only pos- sible when I got in touch with a couple of them to come and do this adventure. It was a big venture, a lot of risk." The other benefit of being in B.C. for Kurkdjian is, of course, the wood. "A lot of the tonewood comes from B.C.— usually the Fraser Valley or the Interior," he says. "For acoustic guitar guys, they're looking for spruce, western red cedar. Electric guys are looking at flame maple, burl maple, spalt- ed maple. B.C. supplies most of the industry globally for these types of woods. So it's good for us where we're located geographically." It's still expensive, of course. The high-quality woods that Kurkdjian and his team are working with can cost $600 per piece. Guitars are typically $4,000 to $7,000 and custom made. "We're in the business of creating folks' dream instruments, right?" says Kurkdjian. "So when you're picking your colour, picking the wood, picking the inlays, there's a customization behind that inlay work—that's the next level of guitar." This year, says Kurkdjian, is looking like the best year ever for the company. He envisions Prestige hitting 200 guitars made soon and the factory has been non-stop busy with orders—there are currently 38 guitars in the company's build queue. The proof of the quality is also in the big names that rock Prestige's product. Shania Twain has almost exclusively been using Prestige guitars for a long time. "One of my career highlights was seeing her play- ing our guitar on stage with Harry Styles at Coachella," says Kurkdjian. Guns N' Roses gui- tarist Slash and Canadian sing- er/songwriter Devin Townsend have also been known to use Prestige guitars. Through the considerable risk, Kurkdjian has perse- vered. "I didn't have to do it," he says, adding that, especially post-COVID, the company could have success- fully "coasted along" and gone back to what it had always been doing. But, he says, "When I saw the opportunity and jumped on it, I knew it would be a passion project for a couple of years until the ball got rolling and the orders came in. Having the factory here, with a mostly global market, we've gotten a lot more patriotic guitarists, espe- cially recently, who appreciate Canadian stuff." PRESTIGIOUS COMPANY The team at Prestige Guitars (top) have had their stringed creations shown off by legendary stars like Shania Twain and Harry Styles (left), and Slash (right) who've played their guitars on the world stage BC Ferries is one of the world's largest ferry operators, running 37 vessels, 47 terminals, 25 routes and more than 185,000 sailings per year. The company carried 22.6 million passengers and 9.6 million vehicles in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. Passenger traffic rose 4.9% over the previous year and vehicle traffic, 1.9%. IN THE SIX MONTHS FROM APRIL 1 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2024, 806 OUT OF 102,893 SCHEDULED SAILINGS WERE CANCELLED, OR 0.8%. CAUSE OF CANCELLATIONS MECHANICAL 62% WEATHER 14% CREW 10.8% OTHER 13.2%

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