Our Principal Brands

Here you can find out about the main brands we stock. You can see a full list of all our brands and jump to the products from the menu on the right of the page called "Our Brands".

 

Alhambra

Manufacturas Alhambra was founded in 1965 from an original small guitar workshop located in Muro de Alcoy southern Spain.

From the very beginning it was always Alhambra's policy to combine the highest standards of craftsmanship with the latest advancements in technology to produce the finest quality instruments. Now, while modern technology is an important part of Alhambra's production process, all their instruments are built in the traditional Spanish way.

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Aparicio

Antonio Aparicio has now established his own company - after 35 years as master luthier and founding partner with other well-known Spanish guitar makers. The new company combines high levels of individual craftsmanship with advanced technology, working with top quality selected woods to produce a wonderful range of instruments. Sr. Aparicio has paid particular attention to the varnishes and finishes on the instruments in his range to enhance the sonority of his guitars.

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Aquila

Hand made strings in Italy

Until the mid-20th century the top three strings of the guitar were mounted exclusively in gut, a material that had been used for thousand of years and that combines excellent promptness of attack with brilliance of timbre - very different, in other words, from modern nylon strings. And until recently the typical sound quality of gut has been a constant point of reference for lute-makers, composers and performers alike. A fundamental aim of our research has therefore been to make a new synthetic product having the same acoustic properties as gut - but without its typical defects - (high cost, limited duration and high instability under varying climatic). Nylgut® has precisely these qualities: allowing one, on the one hand, to rediscover the sonorities familiar to the great 19th and 20th century masters; and guaranteeing, on the other, a stability of tuning higher even than that of the best gut and nylon strings.

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Augustine

Albert Augustine Ltd has been producing top quality nylon classic guitar strings since 1947. These strings have played a major role in the development of the famous Andrés Segovia sound.

Augustine strings give a range of possibilities to suit your needs. If your guitar has strong bass response, you could try Regal Red or Regal Black sets. The tighter tension of the Regal trebles along with either Red or Black basses will enable you to produce a well-balanced and more consistent sound. If your instrument has a strong treble response, your try Imperial Blue strings. Here you will get the benefit of robust and powerful Blue bass string with the less tense, yet beautiful and lyrical Imperials trebles.

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Blackbird

Big sound, small body!

All Blackbird Guitars are built in the Blackbird shop in San Francisco overlooking the Bay.

Blackbird Guitars was founded by Joe Luttwak and Kyle Wolfe and now includes fellow designer Troy Stevens. After years searching for a compact guitar that didn't compromise on sound, all they could find was thin sounding and fragile. Eventually they realized that none of the established companies were willing to tackle this problem so they decided to do it themselves.

It helped having all the latest tools such as three-dimensional CAD (computer-aided design), computer controlled laser cutters and routers as well as advanced materials such as carbon-fiber, and structural foams. Also being based in the San Francisco Bay Area meant access to many of world's great steel-string luthiers who consulted and encouraged the project along.

The result is a perfect balance between technology and traditional craftmanship embodied in the small guitar with the big voice!

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Gropp

Armin & Mario Gropp, father-son master-luthiers from Markneukirchen in the Eastern part of Germany. Known world-wide for their hand-built classical guitars, special guitars, renaissance and baroque instruments. Performers and professors on Gropp guitars The enormous potential of Gropp guitars has been most fully exploited by graduates of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing

• Paganini Caprice
• Wang Yameng

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Hanika

The brand name HANIKA was founded in 1953 by Helmut Hankia. In 1980 Armin Hanika entered the family business. He passed the master craftsmans's examination and obtained his diploma in 1987 and has been managing the small guitar workshop in the Franconian town of Baiersdorf, Germany, since 1994.

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Hannabach

Guitar strings made in Germany using the latest scientific methods, the finest materials and good old fashioned family craftsmanship.

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La Bella

La Bella 2001 Concert Series strings are available in 5 tensions for the classical guitar and 3 tensions for the flamenco guitar.

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Liikanen

Liikanenen Guitars is based in Helsinki, Finland and was established in 1986.

Kauko Liikanen, the founder of the workshop, has been building guitars since the 1980s and in his earlier career spent 10 years in a sound and vibration technical laboratory. He has also been a student of the classical guitar.

Keijo Liikanen became a partner in the company in 1990. Other members of the company include Kirsi Valsanen and Uwe Florath.

The company is best known for the invention of the Lens Resonance System (R) of guitar soundboard bracing.

Liikanan guitars won top awards in 2007/2008 from the European Guitar Teachers Association.

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Prudencio Saez

Guisama SL of Valencia has been building Prudencio Sáez guitars in the traditional way since 1963. In that year Prudencio Sáez established himself as a guitar maker in his own right, after having worked for other makers. Since then, the family firm of GUISAMA, S. L. has been building his guitars in the truest workshop style - from student models to top concert instruments including a wide selection of flamenco, cutaway and electro-acoustic models. Today Prudencio Sáez Marin is the 3rd generation general manager of the company. There has been modernisation over the years but the guitars are still hand-built by craftsmen.

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Please contact us if you need to know more.