The HGGS 2015

This weekend saw the second Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin. We went along last year to see what it was all about, and were so impressed with the inaugural show that we decided to become premium sponsors.

The show is a chance for all luthiers to show what they've been working on; this can be commissions for buyers, unsold stock, anything that they think will be interesting to the public and other luthiers or, more usually, their newest builds that they have put together specifically for the show. It's an incredible mix of eclectic, innovative and classic models, and getting to see and touch the diversity of styles is a unique experience.

It was great to see BKP European Representative Mike Cahen at the show, and not only did we demo a Baccus Guitar each for Seth Baccus, Hilko Nackaerts invited me to help Mike demo for Hilko Guitars. Hilko, like Seth, is a huge BKP fan and uses our pickups in many of his builds.

Funnily enough, Hilko had also used a TV Jones set in one of his show guitars (he had BKs in the other two that we played) and on Saturday night I had a chance to talk to the man himself - TV Jones was having a beer once the public had gone from the show and we had a really great chat about all things pickup. I've always admired his philosophy and way of working, as he has a similar way of approaching the job as we do: using local suppliers, supporting local businesses and small luthiers and making sure no product is mass-produced.

On Friday night we attended the luthier's dinner and the EGB (European Guitar Builders) official body honoured different luthiers for their longevity in the business. We were thrilled to see acoustic luthier, Andy Manson, of the Manson guitar family, honoured for an incredible forty-five years of guitar building. Andy has made custom guitars for artists such as Jimmy Page, Ian Anderson and Matt Bellamy. He became an honorary member of the EGB and was genuinely touched by the award. Incidentally, he is Seth Baccus' stepdad, and they share a workshop in Portugal. Seth, who Mike and I demoed for, will only use BKPs. Wise man!

The 2015 show was Sales Manager Ben's first Holy Grail Guitar Show, and he managed to talk to every single luthier at the show. Ben was enamoured with the Baccus guitars, and was a huge fan of Hilko's offerings, especially the ones with BKPs in! At the dinner on Friday, we met Bordello Guitars, a British company that is run by a husband and wife team. Mark and Rachael build beautiful solid body guitars, and they love to use Bare Knuckles in them.

The wow-factor Devil's Choice Guitars from Germany had BKP-loaded guitars at the show. The guitars are very angular and modern in design, and they caught our eye right away.

Distorted Branch Guitars travelled all the way from Mexico with their 8 string guitars that had Aftermaths installed. Ben got chatting to Hans from JHG Guitars whose guitar, played by Tony Spinner, was featured in our most recent newsletter. The always sociable and welcoming Jeff from JJ Guitars sang the praises of his BKP guitars. He also had his freeway switch on display, and was thrilled at the reception that the BKP fans had given to the switch. As always, British luthier Dan Macpherson from Macpherson Guitars had a few builds with Bare Knuckles installed. We really enjoyed chatting to him and getting a chance to not only ogle his wares, but have a quick play too. All in all, we had a great weekend and got to meet an immense amount of talented people who make us thankful and grateful to be in such a welcoming, friendly and fun business.

Until next year!