BRIAN MAY GUITARS

As a young guitar player Brian May could not afford a decent electric guitar, so he designed and built one from scratch with the help of his father. After two years spare-time work, using only hand tools, the legendary "Red Special" guitar was finished and was to become Brian's main instrument through 30 years of live gigs and recording with Queen.

Through the years there have been a multitude of replicas of the Red Special, built by amateurs and professionals, including two major commercial issues, with Guild Guitars of the USA, and Burns Guitars of the UK. In 2006, the commercial Red Special at last came home when Brian teamed up with Barry Moorhouse of House Music, and Pete Malandrone, Brian's long-time tech man. The BRIAN MAY GUITARS brand produces a range of replicas of the famous Red Special, as well as a miniature travel version.

Pete Turner

Pete Turner is  a UK based guitar maker - who began making instruments as a hobby. Pete makes electric and acoustic guitars but is best known for his Marrakech resonator guitars - made in collaboration with Andy Warnock.

Source: Pete Turner guitars website (6 May 2021)

Daniel Turner

Daniel Turner makes flamenco and classical guitars in Victoria, British Columbia. He has been building guitars since 1999 and also makes the Sola - a unique electroacoustic nylon string guitar.

Source: Daniel Turner website (6 May 2021)

Standard Guitars

At Standard Guitars we're proud to craft the vintage guitars of today; true to vintage specifications and tonal qualities and completely manufactured by hand in the United States at trully affordable prices.

From the heart of Route 66 in the Southwest United States, we're here to bring back authenticity and pride to the guitar world. Our mission is not one that concentrates on the profit but one aimed at quality, tone and craftmanship at prices accessible to all musicians and guitar enthusiasts. 

We believe in hand-made craftmanship and attention to detail. Every instrument is crafted by hand and not CNC machines, no mass production lines, no outsorcing, and we used the same vintage methods used to build the vintage icons we so revere today. No shortcuts, no excuses.

Source: standardguitars.com (5 May 2021)

Xaviere

Xaviere electric and acoustic guitars are sold through Guitarfetish.com.

Tucker (Melvin)

Melvin Lamar Tucker (1947-2019) was born in Clarke County, Georgia. He started work with the Georgia State Patrol in 1970 as a radio operator and by the time he retired in 1997 he was a trooper first class. Tucker was a  well known luthier in the bluegrass community, building fine mandolins and acoustic guitars. He was building instruments from around 1993 until around 2018. His son Brad Tucker also worked with him building guitars.

Source: Melvin Tucker obituary 2019

Pono

Pono is a ukulele, mandolin and acoustic guitar brand of the Ko'olau guitar & ukulele company in Hawaii. Pono instruments are made in Indonesia using solid woods, wood bindings, and bone nuts and saddles.

Source: Pono website (29 March 2021)

Anka Custom

The Company is Based in Houston Texas, Founded in 2010 by Dany Anka. AnkaCustom Offers a variety of high end instruments from classic inspired models to Modern unique designs, only using the best materials and parts!

Gentry

1958 Gibson ES335 copy. Flame Maple front and back. Mahogany neck with no binding.

REVEREND

Reverend is the brainchild of Joe Naylor. Joe studied at the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery. After graduating in 1987 he designed and built custom guitars before establishing the Reverend brand in 1997. Initially Reverend offered American-made, vintage-style guitars, that weren't knock offs of the classic Gibson/Fender designs. If anything their body shapes looked a little like the budget mail order models of the sixties (Airline, Harmony, Sears etc.) or Italian and German made models of the same era. Joe was also cofounder of J.F. Naylor Engineering (Naylor Amps). Currently based in Toledo, Ohio, Reverend is run by Ken and Penny Haas. who bought the company in 2009, and has a wider range of guitar models. All of the guitars are designed by Joe Naylor, manufactured in South Korea by boutique guitar manufacturer Mirr Music with final set up by the Reverend technical team.

Source: Reverend website (6 March 2021)

Travis Bean TB3000 (Wedge)

Travis Bean TB3000 (Wedge) electric guitar

The Travis Bean TB3000 is a rare Travis Bean electric guitar. It was the most expensive instrument in the Travis Bean range and had a carved wedge-shaped Koa body and block position markers. The TB3000 model had natural, single color or pearl finish options. This guitar had the Travis Bean 6061 grade aluminum neck - which came in 2 width options. There were 45 TB3000 guitars produced in total.

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Travis Bean TB500

Travis Bean TB500 electric guitar

The Travis Bean TB500 was their most affordable model. The TB500 had an offset double cutaway body with two high gain single coil pickups and a white pickguard. There were 351 TB500s made.

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Travis Bean TB1000A

Travis Bean TB1000A (Artist) electric guitar

The Travis Bean TB1000A (Artist) was a fancier version of the TB1000S (Standard). It had a carved book-matched Koa body, block position markers and an optional ebony fingerboard. The Artist model had natural, single color or pearl finish options. This guitar had the Travis Bean aluminum neck - which came in 2 width options. There were 755 TB1000A guitars produced in total.

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Travis Bean TB1000S

Travis Bean TB1000 standard electric guitar front

The Travis Bean TB1000 came in standard (TB1000S) and artist (TB1000A) versions. The key feature of this guitar is the aluminum neck - which came in 2 width options. The later catalogs refer to this as just "The Standard Guitar" - without the TB1000 model number. There were 1422 TB1000S guitars produced in total.

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Torque

Torque Amps has its origins in a buisness started by Jim Edgeworth in the early seventies in Darlington, UK. Edgeworth built the forerunners of the current TORQUE range of amplification in small quantities in his retail shop. Success of the first products led to an approach by a major UK national distributor who commissioned a range of amplifiers under their own brand name. This first major contract initiated the formation of the Edgeworth Electronics Limited  company in 1978 and a move to a 2,000 sq. ft. workshop on the Chilton industrial estate. Within a couple of years they purchased a 5,000 sq. ft. factory in Darlington, but the deep recession of the the early eighties caused tremendous difficulties in the UK music trade and forced their sole customer to cancel all of their orders. This forced a widening of the customer base and they were soon supplying several UK distributors with products designed specifically for them and the company began to grow.

Trainwreck

Ken Fischer (1945 - 2006) started Trainwreck Cicuits in 1981 as amplifier repair and modification service in Colonia, New Jersey. By 1982 he had a request by an Atlantic recording artist to build him a custom amplifier. At that point he designed the ultimate amp to suit his personal tastes. There were many styles of amps already out there but he knew that one channel was the way he would go. He also decided that master volume circuits did not give the response of power tubes. He also eschewed spring reverb in his design.

Source: Trainwreck Cicuits catalog 1987

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