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. Most are made to order but now a few guitars will be available ready
made each year.
All the guitars are 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, Kaki King, Stuart Ryan, Thomas Leeb, Clive Carroll, Richard
Durrant,
Nick Pynn, Alex Kabasser, Mike Dawes and Ryan Keen.
Nick also carries out pickup fitting for all acoustic guitars when time allows,
specializing mainly in LR Baggs systems.
A new range of solid and semi-acoustic electric guitars is also currently under development.
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*Latest News 20th January 2012*
Day-to-day Benjamin Guitars news, thoughts and related events will now be posted on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/benjaminguitars
Ready made guitar for sale!
I have an MJ model guitar ready for sale as of now (January 2012).
It is a New Standard model with a
gloss finish body and is made from Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce with a
figured Koa Scoop and
bindings and an extra abalone ring around the bound soundhole, 45mm nut, Macassar
ebony
finger-board, head and pin-less bridge.
£3950
SORRY - NOW SOLD!
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New guitars now completed for NEWTON FAULKNER and RAY DAVIES!
I have been making a new guitar for Newton Faulkner in the current
batch designed to be an
update for his original Benjamin JOM (#44) made back in 2003 which will hopefully
allow
that guitar to go into semi-retirement from the road. There are a few subtle
updates to the
design from the original including carbon fibre in the neck and a special
decoration
scheme combining my current style with that of the earlier guitar.
Above; Newton trying out his new guitar for the first time. #123!
I have also been making a Baritone guitar for Ray Davies which I
decided to make for him
after he borrowed one from me last year. I am very proud to be able to do
this for him
in recognition of his amazing song writing and the unique and completely influential
guitar driven sound of the Kinks!
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The first BENJAMIN FAN-FRETTED guitars are just about to commence
construction.
A 6-string and a 12-string - should be fun!
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20 YEARS!
I've just realised that it is 20 years ago this summer that I started
my first guitar!
My first instrument was a classical guitar made from maple and alpine spruce
using
Irving Sloane's wonderful book. I made it on my bedroom table as a teenager
and it
took about a year to make in my spare time - I think it's still in my parent's
attic somewhere!
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Above: Kaki King with one of my prototype solid electrics - details up soon - watch this space!
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CURRENT WAITING TIME
I am now taking custom orders to be started in
late 2013 (approx.) and completed 8 or 9 months later.
This means that WAITING TIME for CUSTOM BUILT
guitars ordered now is approximately 2 1/2 YEARS.
1 or 2 READY MADE guitars will also be available each year
(if I get time!).
Click for CURRENT PRICES
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LUTHIER INTERVIEW with GUITARBENCH.COM
Terence at Guitar Bench interviewed me last year covering many
aspects of guitar making. The interview is now on-line at:
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LR BAGGS ANTHEM TRU-MIC pickup system now available to try!
I have the new Baggs Anthem pickup system fitted in one of my guitars
here in the workshop
ready to try. I am really bowled over by this system - the mic allows full
dynamic range
to the tone - in other words you can play without having to be careful about
doing
something the pickup system doesn't like - and it is very feedback resistant.
The very natural presence produced by the Anthem system gives you beautiful
clarity and cut without the aggressive mids associated with so many pickup
systems and
most guitars need very little (if any) EQing achieving great sound with minimal
hassle.
ANTHEM: £350 fitted, £300 with a guitar!
ANTHEM SL: £275 fitted, £225 with a guitar!
PICKUPS PAGE for full descriptions.
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I now have a BOSE L1 Model II
PA system in my workshop so customers can hear
pickup systems very effectively - I'm also using it live quite a bit with
the acoustic trio I
am currently performing with and would highly recommend this system to anyone
working
in a similar format - so easy to carry and sounds superb for acoustic instruments!
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Check out two young BENJAMIN users; MIKE DAWES and RYAN KEEN.
Here is Mike playing #100.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mikedawesofficial
http://www.youtube.com/user/ryankeenmusic
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Guitar Making Courses
Several friends of mine are now running guitar building
courses with all their pupils coming away
with extraordinarily professional quality instruments after a month of intensive
work.
Richard Osborne - Steel String Acoustic guitar making courses in Lewes.
Pablo
Requena - Classical and Flamenco guitar making courses near Lewes
and in Spain.
Stephen Hill - Classical and Flamenco guitar making courses in Spain.
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KAKI KING'S LATEST ALBUM 'JUNIOR'
FEATURES HER NEW BENJAMIN GUITAR!
Kaki King's latest album 'Junior' was released
in 2010
and features the asymmetric bodied mini 4-string guitar I made
for her on a track called 'The Hoopers of Hudspeth'.
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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 list 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!
I am also working on some prototype solid and semi-solid
ELECTRIC GUITARS in spare moments - watch this space!
I hope to bring the minimalist Benjamin aesthetic to the
electric world, so, if purple sunbursts etc. aren't your thing
but superb tone is, you may be interested!
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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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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.
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Benjamin guitar player NEWTON FAULKNER's
new album 'Rebuilt By Humans' went to
#1 on iTunes and #3 in the UK album chart in 2009. You can hear Newton's JOM
Benjamin
guitars throughout the album and his new Baritone guitar on 'First Time'.
Thanks to Bob for the photo!
www.newtonfaulkner.com
www.myspace.com/newtonfaulkner
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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
