Dear friends
As you know, we already sell excellent british products from Patrick James Eggle, and Zilla.
Running a little guitar company like GG, is an ongoing challenge, when it somes to finding new and interesting products.
One day i was looking at old guitarmagazines from the 80’s, and i came across a review of a Gordon Smith guitar, and wondered whatever happened to the brand.
GS was clearly not big on export, so we did not see many in Scandinavia. I did a little research on the subject and realized, that the brand had been sold in 2015 and moved from the Manchester area to the Midlands.
Auden Musical Instruments is a fairly new company, owned by entrepeneur Doug Sparkes, who bought the Gordon Smith brand from John Smith, who had been running the company with his wife for many years. Doug Sparkes has revitalized the brand, and the new and more modern facility in Higham Ferrers/Northhamptonshire is producing guitars of great quality, and with way more options than before. Yet more affordable than many of the High End brands.
One cool thing is, that the Auden company is taking on young people interested in guitarbuilding, so the all the skills and knowledge is passed on to new generations. I guess you can never get too much real craftmanship in these days.
There seems to be no end to, how many guitars the world needs, and all the companies we work with, are backordered for months and years ahead. So a good guitar company in Europe, is certainly more than welcome. Especially because it seems like Gordon Smith is offering many options, woods and models, to fill some of the gaps.
Another point is, that many companies are only doing Strat or Tele models, whereas more Gibson orientated models are harder to find. Especially if they are not just copies, but have their own “thing”. And the GS single and double cut guitars, have been around since 1974, so they kind of have a life of their own.
Gordon Smith Guitars were very popular among New Wave and punk guitarists in the 80’s, because they were simple and affordable. But in general, a lot of players fell in love with the simplicity of what was really a british take on Juniors, Specials and Melody Makers, etc. Players like Billy Bragg, Midge Ure, Dee Dee Ramone and Mick Abrahams of Jethro Tull and Bloodwyn Pig, were among the many users, who loved the uncomplicated guitars.
But over the years there was a lack of consistency, and quality was not always the best, so you can say that the Auden company saved the brand from going under.
I must say that the whole story intrigues me, and by looking at all the great guitars online, i became more and more interested in taking on Gordon Smith as a new brand at GuitarGandhi.
Find Gordon Smith Guitars on Facebook or Instagram, and see all the lovely photos from the workshop, and the many guitars, or even at GuitarGandhi’s Facebook page, you will find a good selection too.
As I write this post, we are still waiting for our first guitars. But if all goes as planned, you will find a good selection of GS guitars on our website in near future.
https://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/