“The pickups on that old Univox were amazing. It really makes you wonder about the Japanese guitars produced backthen. They weren’t so bad at all”: How Vintage’s REVO range breathed new life into the oddball electric

The Custom Supreme (left) is inspired by a Grimshaw guitar played by Pete Townshend in the 60s. The Trio (right) mashes up a T-style with an offset and features two pickup selector switches!.

It’s a common misconception that building guitars in East Asia is dead simple. While some may think you just send your chosen factory a few CAD files and a few weeks later a container or two of perfect instruments arrive on your doorstep, the reality is very different – as the designer behind the Vintage REVO and Rapier brands, Alan Entwistle, well knows, having been living and working in China for well over a decade.

Recently back in the UK after virtually a year away, Alan admitted, “It’s been fairly intense. It’s not just the guitars, it’s the pickups and stuff and looking after the production,” which includes nearly 20 REVO models since 2024 and another 12 or so Rapier models that were first released in 2022.