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GORDON SMITH
Gordon Smith had been a British guitar institution
for nearly half a century but, for Doug, the chance to
take on its legacy held special significance.
“I grew up with the back end of punk rock and was
a massive Buzzcocks and Pete Shelley fan,” says Doug.
“I always say that he was the father figure for Gordon
Smith, because he was such a great ambassador for
the brand. I grew up loving bands that played
Gordon Smith guitars.”
KEEPING IT ALIVE
Doug’s love for the history of the brand is evident
– the first-ever Gordon Smith guitar hangs pride of
place on his office wall – but it’s clear that this process
is about more than merely keeping a venerable name
in UK guitar making alive: it’s about the industry as
a whole.
“Gordon Smith is extra special to me because of
its history and its heritage but we want to ensure that
British guitar building has a future, not just Gordon
Smith,” says Doug. “We still do everything by hand.
We don’t have any CNC machines, it’s all templates,
hand tools, sandpaper and sore fingers. We still make
all of our own pickups in-house, using the same wiring
patterns that John used. It’s still 100 per cent hand-
built British guitar.”
If you’re going to hand-build a guitar, you need
luthiers. Today the shop is bustling with young men
and women working under the stewardship of head
luthier Rob Bowman, but it hasn’t always been easy
to find them.
“There aren’t hundreds of people going to the
Jobcentre saying, ‘I’d like to be a guitar builder’,”
says Doug. “But if we can find the right people, we
will invest the time and energy, and give them the
skills they need. We brought a couple of apprentices
through, and we sponsored a guy who was going
through the University of London’s guitar-building
course. We’ve brought in guys in who were hobbyists
or enthusiasts and trained them.
“If we want to have a British guitar-building
industry, we’ve got to take that responsibility
seriously. People like us and Crimson, we need
support, we need people to buy into what we’re
trying to do here.”
NEW NOISE
What Doug is trying to do is bring Gordon Smith
into the 21st century, and carve out an identity that
will allow the brand to flourish beyond the dedicated
enthusiasts who’ve kept the company alive until now.
“When we took on the brand, the only people
that were buying Gordon Smith guitars were
people that already owned Gordon Smith guitars,”
says Doug. “The big challenge for us is attracting
the next generation of players. How do we get that
17-year-old kid to aspire to play Gordon Smith
instead of one of the big American brands?”
Doug is determined to
maintain Gordon Smith’s
hand-built ethos
Key to this has been some soul-searching about
what Gordon Smith is, and what it needs to become,
in order to set itself apart.
“I don’t think it’s unfair to say that towards the
end of Gordon Smith’s previous incarnation, it had
lost some of its identity,” says Doug. “So we worked
hard to develop guitars such as the GS-1000 and the
GS Deluxe, which have definite identities as Gordon
Smith guitars. It was also important to improve the
quality. Every single component – from the wood to
the pickup screws to the plastics we use – has been
upgraded. The prices have gone up but I believe
they’re still very affordable for hand-built guitars. It
reflects the improvements we’ve made in quality.”
OPEN DOORS
It’s easy to talk a good game about how great your
guitars are but it’s quite another to tell the public
that they’re welcome to drop by at any time to take
look for themselves. And that’s exactly the approach
Doug has adopted (at least, when we’re not in the
midst of a global pandemic, of course). He’s ready to
show the world just what Gordon Smith’s team of
luthiers are up to inside the old Co-operative building
on a sleepy road in Higham Ferrers.
“It’s important for the customer to see that we’re
offering them a genuinely hand-built instrument, so
we welcome people here,” he says. “Our doors are
open 8:30 to 5:30, Monday to Friday. Anybody can
come in and see what we do and get involved – it’s
not unusual for people to come here, have a look
around, and end up winding their own pickups.
“We want it to be an interactive experience. Even if
you’re not buying and you just want to browse, or if
you’ve got an old Gordon Smith and you want to find
out more about it, come and see us. There’s lots of
stuff here that makes it an interesting day out.”
For more visit gordonsmithguitars.com
GUITAR MAGAZINE 85