Welcome to the website of Nick Benjamin, acoustic guitar maker.
Lewes, East Sussex, England, UK.
Luthier Nick Benjamin produces small numbers of high quality
handmade steel string acoustic
guitars, frequently made to order but with some guitars available ready made.
Made in a small one person workshop and
sold direct to provide an individual and personal
instrument designed with simple beauty in mind and tone and playability foremost.
Nick Benjamin's guitars have been used professionally by many players including;
Eric Roche, Newton Faulkner, Stuart Ryan, Thomas Leeb, Clive Carroll,
Richard Durrant, Nick Pynn and Alex Kabasser.
Pickup fitting for all acoustic guitars is also a specialty (when time allows!).
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*Latest News 13th January 2010*
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE!
After the majority of my making career so far having been spent building
guitars to individual
custom order I have decided to start producing a certain proportion of my
guitars not to order.
As my waiting has extended a lot recently this will hopefully allow me to
offer the possibility of
a quicker purchase for players who do not need a full customisation service
and would also
perhaps like to 'try before they buy'.
The ready made guitars will initially be about a third of my output
and will be made exactly in the
same way and to the same quality as my custom built guitars. Many of these
guitars will be simply
adorned work-man-like instruments designed to suit performing musicians but
I will occasionally
produce more elaborate ready made instruments if I am inspired by some particularly
beautiful
timbers which fall into my hands!
The new ready made guitars will be factored in to
my future waiting times and
no one who has already placed a custom order will have their waiting time
increased by the production of these guitars!
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CURRENT WAITING TIME
I am now taking custom orders to be started in the early 2012 and completed
7 or 8 months later.
This means that WAITING TIME for CUSTOM BUILT guitars ordered
now is approaching 3 YEARS.
3-4 READY MADE guitars will also be available each year!
click for CURRENT PRICES
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FOR SALE
Last updated 13th Jan. '10
Two ready made guitars from the previous batch both now
SOLD.
Two more available in March (approx.).
My 2008 NYLON STRING PROTOTYPE is now for sale - sensible offers please!
See STOCK page for more details.
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New guitar for one of my favourite musicians KAKI KING now complete and in her hands!
It's a mini four string guitar 3/4 scale length with just about everything
assymetric that could be!
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Check out ALEX KABASSER's YouTube channel for some new
videos featuring his Benjamin Percussion model guitar!
http://de.youtube.com/user/alexkabasser
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CLIVE CARROLL's latest album 'LIFE IN COLOUR' features
his
BENJAMIN ORCHESTRA MODEL GUITAR on several tracks, including;
'All This Time', 'The Gentle Man', 'The Boatman'and the octaves melody on
'Oregon'.
www.guitarcds.net
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Details
of my new NYLON-STRING MODELS now up! I built a prototype
nylon strung guitar in 2008 which is now available for sale - offers please!
Left: Nylon-String prototype.
Right: 'Midi-Jumbo' model.
The first example of my newest Midi-Jumbo (MJ) model guitar was on show at the Hub Centre in Sleaford, Lincs last year and pictured in 'Guitarist' (UK) magazine's February 2009 edition with a close-up of the 'Scoop'.
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WORK IN PROGRESS GALLERY
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WOODGALLERY
Choose the wood for your guitar!
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and.....GALLERY OF PAST AND PRESENT GUITARS
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Come and say hello on my new MYSPACE!
www.myspace.com/benjaminguitars
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REPAIRS
I am not doing any repair work at the moment but am still usually happy to
do pickup fitting.
Please get in touch with my good friend Richard Osborne at www.osborneguitars.co.uk
for general repairs.
K&K Pure Western and Ultra Pure pickup systems now in stock plus others to order.
Full range of LR Baggs pickups and preamps always available to order.
HEADWAY SHIRE KING acoustic
amps now available from Benjamin Guitars.
The best amps I've tried - warm and clear at the same time with a
great dynamic range.
Have a look at my Pickups page for details of the
SK120 and SK60.
New Headway EDB-1 preamp/DI units now available - Fantastic!
£195.
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BENJAMIN GUITARS GOES WIND POWERED!
ECOTRICITY
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I
completed a new guitar for CLIVE CARROLL last year. After many years of subtle
and not so subtle offers of a guitar Clive finally asked me to make him a
new instrument which will hopefully make a nice contrast and companion to
his beloved Bown. We settled on an Orchestra Model in Sitka and Honduras Rosewood
with a neck to Clive's normal specifications and construction to allow the
super low action Clive likes and give a familiar but expanded tonal response.
Clive used his new guitar for several tracks on his new album 'Life in Colour', including; 'All This Time', 'The Gentle Man', 'The Boatman'and the octaves melody on 'Oregon'.
Sorry about the blurry picture - should have used a flash - or is it just the speed of Clive's fingers!
Benjamin guitar player NEWTON FAULKNER's new album 'Rebuilt
By Humans' went to #1 on iTunes and #3 in the UK album chart earlier this
year (2009). You can hear Newton's JOM Benjamin guitars throughout the album
and his new Baritone guitar on 'First Time'. Look out for a new stripped down
ACOUSTIC EP in the next few months (Spring 2010) with intimate uncoloured
versions of many of Newton's new tracks.
www.newtonfaulkner.com
www.myspace.com/newtonfaulkner
Benjamin
guitar user STUART RYAN, acoustic columnist for Guitar Techniques magazine
and all round top fingerstyle wizard, has recently been appointed
as 'Head of Guitar' at the BRISTOL INSTITUTE of MODERN MUSIC, the new sister
college to the Brighton based BIMM.
Stuart now has a new BENJAMIN JOM in Lutz Spruce and Indian Rosewood. which you can hear most months as part of Stuart's 'Guitar Techniques' magazine acoustic column recordings.
Right; Stuart Ryan in the old workshop with his original Benjamin Double-0.
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| Jumbo (J) and Midi-Jumbo (MJ) | Jumbo Orchestra Model (JOM) | Orchestra Model (OM) |
| Treble-0 (12 fret) | Double-0 (14 fret) | Terz (high tuned) |
| Baritone Models | Nylon-String Models | New & Future Models |
THIS WEBSITE IS THE PAST AND CURRENT WORK OF NICK BENJAMIN INCLUDING MOST
PHOTOGRAPHY
PLEASE EXCUSE THE SIMPLICITY OF THE SITE - NICK IS A GUITAR MAKER NOT A WEB
DESIGNER!
ALL CONTENT COPYRIGHT NICK BENJAMIN OF BENJAMIN GUITARS