A newly launched guitar factory and shop in Sunderland is already resonating with a host of well known musicians.
Cloud 9 Guitars is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Keith Robson and Mark Lamaq and aims to bring British-made instruments direct to players. And The Charlatans star Tim Burgess is working with the firm to deliver a run of guitars inspired by the yellow and black jacket the singer wore in the band's 1996 video for How High.
Mr Robson had been working in the guitar industry for some years making high end hardware such as machine heads and bridges - the component parts of the instruments - for boutique brands and established names such as Paul Reed Smith Guitars. Together with Mr Lamaq - who has worked in the US and China overseeing multimillion-pound mass production of guitars - the pair decided the time was right for a British manufacturer.
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Mr Robson said: "Covid and Brexit gave us the vision of an opportunity. We realised that a lot of the retailers - including the bigger ones - were having difficulties in getting stock from overseas because of the price of shipments, materials and because a lot of Chinese and Korean companies were potentially a year behind in their manufacturing.
"Cloud 9 is a multifaceted company. One of the predominant things that we're going to be concentrating on is the mid-range market. We're still going to be doing very high end stuff as well, but stuff between the £600-£1,200 mark."
Mr Robson says Cloud 9 is the only company in Europe - and possibly the world - which can manufacturer every single component part of the guitar in house, apart from the strings. The firm offers a range including electric, acoustic and classical - all made in its Shiney Row base, a former Co-op department store, which has been converted by the pair over a six month period.
Initially, the factory will produce between 50-60 guitars a month, with that number expected to grow up to 100. Customers can buy the guitars directly from the Wearside location, initially by appointment, and via the company's website. And further investment in the retail space is planned in the New Year.
The guitar necks and bodies are made using CNC machines with other parts hand finished. While there are other independent producers in the country there are few at the volume Cloud 9 has its sights on.
Mr Robson added: "Because of Mark's experience over in China, he understands how to scale up and tool up for scale. He knows how to work it from a master craftmanship point of view but also in terms of big numbers without compromising on quality."
And a regard for skills in and around Sunderland is also motivating the pair. Mr Robson added: "We're very passionate about giving something back to the North East. Because we realise we've lost a lot of our engineering skills that we were so proud of back in the day. We want to put skills back into the area that were lost in the 1980s and '90s. We're looking at taking on apprentices. There are three of us who are highly skilled and hands on at the minute."
He added: "We're proud of the region. My family comes from a line of fairly skilled people. My great grandfather was the top turner down at Sunderland shipyards and used to fit out the captains' cabins and stuff like that. My grandfather was a gilder who went down to Buckingham Palace to work. So it's in the blood, along with music."
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