My visit to Brook Guitars

[woodrat]

Also while I was in the UK in Jan/Feb 2011 I was able to visit the workshop of Andy and Simon of Brook guitars in deepest darkest Devonshire. They have a workshop in a converted barn on the edge of Dartmoor which I found only by using satnav to navigate the labyrinth of country lanes in that part of England.
Andy and Simon learnt their craft from Andy Manson who is one of the best luthiers in the world and the person who inspired me to take up lutherie. Back in 2006 when I was last in the UK I played some of his creations in his brothers shop in Exeter. I was hooked and have been making ever since.
Anyway Brooks make quite a few models and they are all named after rivers in Devon so they have names like Taw, Torridge, Tamar, Teign, Dart and Otter as well as a few others. They have a small staff of about 3 as well as themselves.
I was able to spend the afternoon there and Simon and Andy showed me around and were generally really nice chaps.
Here are a few photos of their operation.

The first photo (Edit...now second) was meant to be last but I dont know how to change the order so I should have uploaded them in reverse order I suppose...but there is an interesting story behind that pile of wood. They are rails and stiles from some thick Brazilian Mahogany doors that came out of a government departments building because they were not "environmentally sound" so they were replaced with something presumably "environmentally sounder"(?) . They did the "environmentally sound" thing of course and threw them in the skip! ...fortunately the boys from Brook guitars were able to rescue them and are going to do something that is actually environmentally sound and recycle them into very nice guitars!

Enjoy.

Edit: Thanks Markus...I have been able to put the photo that I wanted first in the first place now.

Simon on my right and Andy on my left of Brook Guitars, Devon UK.

[charangohabsburg]

Thanks for sharing those pictures and the story (especially the one about the pile of wood! )

The first photo was meant to be last but I dont know how to change the order so I should have uploaded them in reverse order I suppose...

When you edit your message, below the text on the left it says Attachment.
Choose a filename in the drop box next and click on "place inline". A text portion like
"[attachment = 1]filename.jpg[/attachment]" (the picture)
will appear where the cursor was placed. When doing further editing you can move that text string (picture) wherever you want in your message.

[woodrat]

Thanks Markus!

[Taffy Evans]

Thanks for posting that Woodrat. I have followed their work over the years and have a ring binder file of magazine articles and guitar reviews collected over the years on Brook and Manson guitars. I used one of their Parlor guitars as inspiration for my own.

[Nick]

Call me weird or just a guitar builder but there's something quite sexy about your third picture of the bodies awaiting finish Good to see the government "giving back" too!
Thanks for posting John, looks like your UK trip was well worthwhile & fun.

[woodrat]

Nick...Your weird! ...or maybe a guitar builder! ...there you go... does that make you feel better!

Cheers!

John