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 and K&K systems.
A new range of solid electric guitars is also currently in
development.
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*Latest News 25th August 2010*
RAY DAVIES
Yesterday (Aug 24th) my son and I had the pleasure of going up to Konk studios
to lend RAY DAVIES a
baritone Benjamin guitar (kindly loaned by Newton Faulkner) for his current
'COLLABORATIONS'
recording project. The guitar was recorded for use on the classic song WATERLOO
SUNSET
on which Ray has duetted with JACKSON BROWNE. We were both rather star struck
and
enjoyed very much being shown round the amazing vintage equipment the studio
has.
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 my initial impressions of 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
considering
how much of the tone comes from an internal microphone. I am fairly certain
that this system
will become my first recommendation for most players except for full on percussion
players
who may find the deliberate cutting out of low frequency handling noise from
the mic a disadvantage.
ANTHEM; £325 inc. UK P&P, £375 fitted,
more due in September.
ANTHEM SL; £225 inc. UK P&P, £275 fitted, some available now.
Check out two new BENJAMIN users; MIKE DAWES and RYAN KEEN.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mikedawesofficial
http://www.youtube.com/user/ryankeenmusic
KAKI KING'S LATEST ALBUM 'JUNIOR'
FEATURES HER NEW BENJAMIN GUITAR!
Kaki King's latest album 'Junior' was released
earlier in 2010
and features the asymmetric bodied mini 4-string guitar I made
for her on a track called 'The Hoopers of Hudspeth'.
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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CURRENT WAITING TIME
I am now taking custom orders to be started in the
early 2012 and completed 7 or 8 months later.
This means that WAITING TIME for CUSTOM BUILT
guitars ordered now is approaching 3 YEARS.
3-4 READY MADE guitars will also be available each year!
Click for CURRENT PRICES
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Check out ALEX KABASSER's YouTube channel for some new
videos featuring his Benjamin Percussion model guitar!
http://de.youtube.com/user/alexkabasser
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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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WORK IN PROGRESS GALLERY
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WOODGALLERY
Choose the wood for your guitar!
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and.....GALLERY OF PAST AND PRESENT GUITARS
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Come and say hello on my new MYSPACE!
www.myspace.com/benjaminguitars
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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.
K&K Pure Western and Ultra Pure pickup systems now in stock plus others to order.
Full range of LR Baggs pickups and preamps always available to order.
HEADWAY SHIRE KING acoustic
amps now available from Benjamin Guitars.
The best amps I've tried - warm and clear at the same time with a
great dynamic range.
Have a look at my Pickups page for details of the
SK120 and SK60.
New Headway EDB-1 preamp/DI units now available - Fantastic!
£195.
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BENJAMIN GUITARS GOES WIND POWERED!
ECOTRICITY
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I
completed a new guitar for CLIVE CARROLL last year. After many years of subtle
and not so subtle offers of a guitar Clive finally asked me to make him a
new instrument which will hopefully make a nice contrast and companion to
his beloved Bown. We settled on an Orchestra Model in Sitka and Honduras Rosewood
with a neck to Clive's normal specifications and construction to allow the
super low action Clive likes and give a familiar but expanded tonal response.
Clive used his new guitar for several tracks on his new album 'Life in Colour', including; 'All This Time', 'The Gentle Man', 'The Boatman 'and the octaves melody on 'Oregon'.
Sorry about the blurry picture - should have used a flash - or is it just the speed of Clive's fingers!
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
Benjamin
guitar user STUART RYAN, acoustic columnist for Guitar Techniques magazine
and all round top fingerstyle wizard, has recently been appointed
as 'Head of Guitar' at the BRISTOL INSTITUTE of MODERN MUSIC, the new sister
college to the Brighton based BIMM.
Stuart now has a new BENJAMIN JOM in Lutz Spruce and Indian Rosewood. which you can hear most months as part of Stuart's 'Guitar Techniques' magazine acoustic column recordings.
Right; Stuart Ryan in the old workshop with his original Benjamin Double-0.
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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
