INTRODUCTION to BENJAMIN GUITARS

Welcome to the website of Nick Benjamin, maker of Acoustic Guitars.

Unlike many 'handmade' guitars, my instruments are genuinely made in small numbers (about twelve a year) and by the hands of one person (me). Each instrument is unique and the majority are built to order with a full consultation to meet each customer's exact requirements for tone, feel and look. My small workshop is based in an old brewery building in the centre of Lewes, a beautiful historic town in the southeast of England. Lewes is unusual in the world of guitar making in that a small 'community' of makers exists here; each working separately but supporting one another and sharing ideas.

Right; me in 2003, trying out a guitar made by my friend and pupil, Stuart Coupe.

I built my first guitar in 1990, aged seventeen, on a table in my bedroom, my parents were surprisingly tolerant of the wood shavings that made their way around the house! I was driven by my fascination with the instrument I had recently started playing and by my lifelong passion for design and making, first sparked by my grandfather, an aeronautical designer, and my uncle, a builder of classic sports cars. I proceeded to study 'Engineering Design and Appropriate Technology' at the University of Warwick, UK, whilst constructing further guitars in the holidays. After completing my degree I decided that becoming a cog in the huge machine of the engineering world wasn't where my heart lay and I sought out my first proper instruction in the art of luthierie.

I discovered someone locally gave guitar making lessons and made my first contact with Jeff Chapman. Jeff, based in Brighton, grew up in the same small town as I and has been making guitars for nearly forty years. Over the period of a year and a half I spent weekends in Jeff's workshop and built my first steel string guitar (the first ones had been classical and electric instruments), learning many construction techniques that I still use today. Towards the end of my time learning with Jeff I also started to gain tuition from Stephen Hill, a Classical and Flamenco maker at that stage based here in Lewes. Stephen ran and still runs a very successful workshop making in the great Spanish tradition. I have learnt a huge amount from both of these people, not just about woodwork, and would like to extend my thanks here.

I first set up in my own workshop in 1998 after gradually going more and more full time renting space at Stephen Hill's workshop. Since then I have been making and repairing guitars for many people in the southeast of England and beyond and have been lucky enough to make guitars for people such as; Eric Roche, Newton Faulkner, Clive Carroll, Kaki King, Richard Durrant, Nick Pynn and many others. In my earlier days I had the pleasure of working on a guitar that belonged to Jimi Hendrix as well as doing repair work for Arthur Brown (The god of hell fire!), Paul Carrack, Eddie Myer (Turin Brakes), Doug Scarrat (Saxon), Bob Johnson (Steeleye Span) etc.The guitar construction side of my work has now taken over all my time and I currently produce about twelve guitars a year and pass on most repair work (apart from pickup fitting) to other guitar making friends.

Picture: Eric Roche and I (I don't always wear that T-shirt!).

On this website I have tried to include all the topics I commonly cover with customers trying to decide on which design and materials to choose when ordering a guitar and I hope the information may also be generally of interest to anyone making or buying a guitar, or just dreaming about it!

Nick Benjamin.