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UNPLANNED DOWNTIME: 12th Oct 23:45

British Guitar Brands

What's Hot
Racjesus92Racjesus92 Frets: 2
in Guitar
Hey,
I am not a native of the lands belonging to the Royal family by right or conquest but I moved here 8 Years ago from Portugal and have come to appreciate the rich tradition of British guitars. So I am thinking of creating some sort of group or socials about that. Could you help me by naming guitar related (guitars, amps and pedals) brands that are based in the UK even if they are made overseas. Obviously there is a thread of made in UK so I’ll pull from there too , but I am more interested in production items, not parts or small builders that do a couple of guitars a year. 
I’ll start with what I know so far, from owning or seeing around.
Fret king
Shergold
Chapman
Crimson guitars
Gordon Smith
Bolt Guitars
a bunch from JHS
Vintage
Rapier…

Revelation
Alan Entwistle
Burns
Brian May guitars
PJD
CREAM T
PJE


On the acoustic side I know if 
Faith
TANGLEWOOD

What else guys? 



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Comments

  • MartinBushMartinBush Frets: 211
    Ian Elson
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9107
    edited August 2023
    Trent
    Ivison
    Watkins
    Vox
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • timmypixtimmypix Frets: 1979
    Have a look in the Made in the UK section of the forum :)
    Tim
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9107
    MartinBush said:
    Ian Elson
    MD Philips
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • TanninTannin Frets: 4394
    Neither Faith nor Tanglewood are British. They are simply British brands badging made-in-China or made-in-Indonesia products. (Yep, sure, they will make all sorts of justifications and excuses. But facts are facts: they are not British.)

    However, in acousticland there are many genuine British makers:

    Lowden is the biggest, with around 70 employees.
    There are several related makers which have some connection with Lowden, such as being former workers there and similar. Off the top of my head, Avalon and McIroy, but there are two or three more I can't remember at the moment.
    Then you have highly regarded hand-makers in Brook and Atkin and Flyde. Not to mention many others, often single luthiers or small organisations. 
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  • droflufdrofluf Frets: 3144
    Brook, Moon, Sobell, Taran, Fylde
    Trading feedback thread:https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/172761/drofluf
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  • Racjesus92Racjesus92 Frets: 2
    Just thought of Finlayson acoustics

    obviously there’s Marshall, Blackstar and Orange… duh

     
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  • VoxsupertwinVoxsupertwin Frets: 270
    Blundell, Patrick Eggle, 
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  • Racjesus92Racjesus92 Frets: 2
    Also 
    Hutchins
    SMP
    C9
    Adam black ?
    Feline

    amps:
    victory 
    Cornford
    cornell

    strings
    rotosound
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  • GassageGassage Frets: 30192
    Errr what about our very own superluthier, @IvisonGuitars ?

    Really gaining traction now.

    *An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.

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  • OffsetOffset Frets: 9212
    Feline?
    Currently for sale: https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/247085/pro-ject-essential-ii-turntable
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  • GoldenEraGuitarsGoldenEraGuitars Frets: 8207
    tFB Trader
    HAL9000 said:
    Trent
    Ivison
    Watkins
    Vox
    Gassage said:
    Errr what about our very own superluthier, @IvisonGuitars ?

    Really gaining traction now.
    Already mentioned 
    • website - https://goldenera-guitars.co.uk/

    • Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars


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  • GoldenEraGuitarsGoldenEraGuitars Frets: 8207
    tFB Trader
    Kithara
    • website - https://goldenera-guitars.co.uk/

    • Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars


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  • Racjesus92Racjesus92 Frets: 2
    GoldenEraGuitars said:
    Kithara
    Yes!!

    would you consider yourself a guitar brand or more of the parts supplier?
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  • CookiemonsterCookiemonster Frets: 828
    Manson ? 

    Instagram is Rocknrollismyescape -

    FOR SALE - Catalinbread Echorec, Sonic Blue classic player strat and a Digitech bad monkey

     

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  • SvartmetallSvartmetall Frets: 456
    Haydn Williams, top-notch stuff and a nice guy

    https://williamsguitars.co.uk/


    https://cziltangbrone.bandcamp.com/album/isotopes                                        https://devoidmusic.bandcamp.com/album/tombs
    https://cziltangbrone.bandcamp.com/album/null-hypothesis-5-ep
    https://cziltangbrone.bandcamp.com/album/machine-space-2
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 15793
    edited August 2023
    How many do you need to have made to qualify
    Wez Venables Guitars
    Instagram
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  • LitterickLitterick Frets: 476
    Hamstead
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  • Racjesus92Racjesus92 Frets: 2
    WezV said:
    How many do you need to have made to qualify
    Don’t know
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 15793
    Racjesus92 said:
    WezV said:
    How many do you need to have made to qualify
    Don’t know
    Well I'm currently finishing build #75 as far as I can work out.    Builds from planks of wood, many more partscasters and refurbs.

    I remember being told you needed to build 10 before you could consider yourself a guitar builder.
    Wez Venables Guitars
    Instagram
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  • beed84beed84 Frets: 2295
    JJ Guitars. FWIW I should never have sold the ones I had.
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  • Racjesus92Racjesus92 Frets: 2
    WezV said:
    Racjesus92 said:
    WezV said:
    How many do you need to have made to qualify
    Don’t know
    Well I'm currently finishing build #75 as far as I can work out.    Builds from planks of wood, many more partscasters and refurbs.

    I remember being told you needed to build 10 before you could consider yourself a guitar builder.
    That’s amazing! Do you have a website or a page somewhere? 
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  • richman6100richman6100 Frets: 290
    Martyn Booth
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  • WezVWezV Frets: 15793
    I have a terrible photo collection at wezvenables.co.uk 
    Wez Venables Guitars
    Instagram
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  • markblackmarkblack Frets: 1534
    Fidelity guitars.
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  • HerrMetalHerrMetal Frets: 505
    I think there is a valid case that Celestion is one of the more important British brands.
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 7616
    tFB Trader
    Calling Chapman or Vintage UK guitar brands is like calling Harley Benton a German guitar brand. By that definition any brand that has a distributor in this country - and that may or may not been built to specifications supplied in the UK - is a British guitar brand. That's not really fair on the UK companies that fight hard in a difficult market where materials costs have spiralled. I say this as a UK  musical instrument pickup manufacturer who is proud not to simply badge engineer or farm out production to China.  
    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog

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  • ArchtopDaveArchtopDave Frets: 1230
    Mark Bailey…. also runs excellent Build Your Own Guitar courses.

    Surprised no ones mentioned ThorpyFx for pedals so far. Also Effectrode.
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  • BigsbyBigsby Frets: 2770
    OilCityPickups said:
    Calling Chapman or Vintage UK guitar brands is like calling Harley Benton a German guitar brand. By that definition any brand that has a distributor in this country - and that may or may not been built to specifications supplied in the UK - is a British guitar brand. That's not really fair on the UK companies that fight hard in a difficult market where materials costs have spiralled. I say this as a UK  musical instrument pickup manufacturer who is proud not to simply badge engineer or farm out production to China.  
    But surely a brand can be British even though the production is outside Britain? No one thinks of Squier as an Indonesian brand, or Hagstrom as a Chinese brand just because the manufacturing is located there. A brand's national identity is more about history and the location of the business itself, much less about manufacturing or even design. I don't think it has anything to do with distributors as such, or 'fairness'.

    But a British brand that manufactures in Britain can certainly trade on that, as Gordon Smith do with their 'handcrafted in the UK' markings. I suspect that for consumers this matters more than the concept of a brands national identity. A good example being consumers who only want American made Fenders - even though they recognise the brand is American.
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  • GoFishGoFish Frets: 1082
    edited August 2023
    Sad shout for Magnetic Effects. But also see Fredrick Effects, Ghost, Rainger FX, Latent Lemon, DAM, Castledine,


    Laney
    Matamp


    Gordon Smith
    Ashdown
    Blackstar
    Burns
    Watkins / WEM
    Ten years too late and still getting it wrong
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