This is a question for all you guys on the other side of the pond
USA bands that are great;
Aerosmith, Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Metallica, etc.
USA guitars that are great;
Fender, Gibson, Paul Reed Smith, etc.

UK bands that are great;
Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks, Queen etc.
UK guitars that are great;
???????????????????????
I am just a stupid American, so please enlighten me ( oh yeah, Burns)

Hi paisley strat. We've done this one before: whereas Britain does amp and speaker building as well as anyone and better than most, for some reason mass production guitar building just never took off in the UK. Burns of London very obviously wanted to be the Fender of Europe back in the day, but for whatever reason they couldn't make it happen.

In Britain we have an absolutely excellent selection of small scale builders, second to none. Just a taste:

http://www.martynboothguitars.co.uk/ These are drop dead gorgeous. I've handled one and when my boat comes in I'm gonna own one!

http://www.mansonguitars.co.uk/ Another maker to the stars. Some very left of field offerings, and a highly distinguished client list. Hugh's brother Andy is also a very fine acoustic builder. Speaking of which:

http://www.accoustiguitars.co.uk/ Those are good.

http://www.eggle.co.uk/ These are utterly superb. World leading. And there's also:

http://www.fyldeguitars.com/ Very fine.

There's also British owned brands which are built in the Far East. Vintage Guitars are a mass market budget brand in Europe which are gradually working their way up the price ladder:

http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageelectric.html

They are designed by Trevor Wilkinson, and are just beginning to do things a little beyond the straight lookalike market. Another Trev Wilkinson project is:

http://www.fret-king.com/

That's a revival of a defunct brand. The cheaper Blue Label Fret Kings are made in the Far East: the top of the range Green Label ones are built at Trev Wilkinson's own facility in the UK. And that is about as close as you are going to get to a mainstream British built guitar for the foreseeable future.

Boutique is the word, when it comes to UK guitar building...

Cheers - C

Thanks Ceri!! Hey, I thought you lived on the sun-drenched shores, not the snow capped peaks!! What is up with that???

Watch that space...

Cheers - C

yeah, there's Burns of London, but ... really .... stick to the Italian makers!

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.