Description
The Hope Artist Edition
Munson × Emma Howell
The Hope Artist Edition, Hope: A Two Soul Harmony, is a one-off collaboration between Munson Guitars and Cotswolds-based artist Emma Howell.
Built on the Munson Avenger platform and created as part of Emma’s Soul collection, Hope explores the meeting point between precise instrument making and a much more instinctive form of artistic expression.
Emma describes Hope as a “collision of two creative individuals”, two people deeply absorbed in their respective crafts.
Raw, honest and spontaneous
Hope was not painted towards a predetermined image.
Instead, the artwork developed gradually through charcoal, paint, pencil and spontaneous mark-making. Emma describes the process as “raw, honest and spontaneous”, with individual marks capturing moments of feeling, tension and energy as the piece evolved.
That process gives Hope its distinctive character.
Lines overlap. Marks interrupt one another. Areas of energy sit beside quieter spaces. Nothing attempts to disguise the uncertainty or movement within the work.
The resulting piece reflects the idea of surrendering to reality, riding the wave of grief and accepting the unpredictable nature of life.
Emma describes the finished work as exposing hardship and chaos while simultaneously holding harmony, balance and comfort.
Music, memory and family
The collaboration also carries a deeply personal connection to music.
Emma’s father was a bass player who performed in local bands and ran his own shop for three decades before his sudden death in 2016. Emma has described the work she has created since as a way of carrying his spirit forward.
For Hope, that musical heritage met another family connection: her relationship with her luthier father-in-law and the craft of building instruments by hand.
Emma describes the collaboration as a “meeting point between two crafts, two legacies and two ways of telling stories.”
Hope sits at that intersection, painting, music, family, grief and craftsmanship brought together in a playable instrument.
Two creative practices. One instrument.
Artist Editions are not standard Munson guitars with artwork simply added after the build.
The aim is for both creative practices to have a place in the finished work.
Hope began as a hand-built Avenger, but its English ash body also became Emma’s working surface. The structure and precision of the instrument sit alongside the uncertainty and immediacy of her mark-making.
Emma describes Hope and Eden as “living artworks”, bringing together original artwork, sound, memory and craftsmanship.
Details such as the brass artist-signature inlay extend that collaboration beyond the painted body and into the construction of the guitar itself.
Made together. Built as one.
English ash and maple
Hope’s body is built from two-piece English ash, providing the foundation for Emma’s original artwork.
Once completed, the artwork was protected with nitrocellulose.
The neck and fingerboard are North American maple, with a satin nitrocellulose finish, 25.5-inch scale length and 12-inch radius.
Paua shell position markers are complemented by a brass artist-signature inlay, permanently recording Emma’s involvement in the instrument.
Hand-wound Munson SSS pickups
Hope is fitted with a hand-wound Munson SSS pickup set, paired with the familiar simplicity of a three-single-coil control layout.
A master volume, two tone controls and five-way blade selector provide the principal pickup combinations.
The electronics retain the direct, immediate character associated with an S-style instrument while keeping the visual and collaborative identity of Hope firmly at the centre of the design.
Exhibited as art
Hope was shown as part of Emma Howell’s Soul exhibition at Sixteen Gallery, where the collaborative guitars were displayed alongside her works on canvas and paper.
Emma describes the instruments as becoming a bridge between abstract expressionism and the tactile, sonic world of music, allowing visitors to experience them both visually and as objects capable of sound.
That exhibition history now forms part of Hope’s provenance.
Specification
Model
Avenger SSS — Hope: A Two Soul Harmony
Type
Artist Edition
Munson × Emma Howell
One of One
Status
Sold
Body
Two-piece English ash
Original artwork by Emma Howell
Nitrocellulose finish
Neck
North American maple
25.5″ / 648 mm scale
12″ / 304.8 mm radius
Dual-action truss rod
0.73″ / 18.58 mm at 1st fret
0.87″ / 22.21 mm at 12th fret
Satin nitrocellulose finish
Fingerboard
North American maple
Frets
22 medium nickel-silver
2.4 mm wide
1.3 mm crown
Inlays
Paua shell
Brass artist-signature inlay
Nut
GraphTech Black TUSQ XL
Neck fixing
Stainless-steel M5 bolts with brass threaded inserts
Electronics
Hand-wound Munson SSS pickup set
M:RWR
1 × volume
2 × tone
5-way blade selector
Hardware
Gotoh SG381-MG-T staggered locking tuners
1:16 gear ratio
Munson tremolo
Metal knurled knobs
Schaller S-Lock strap buttons
Brushed aluminium pickguard
From the Munson archive
Hope has already found its owner, but its story remains part of Munson Guitars.
It records a particular moment when two very different creative processes met: the controlled precision of instrument making and the spontaneous expression of Emma’s artwork.
One instrument. One collaboration. No repeat.
