Fylde Guitars is an English manufacturer of handmade fretted musical instruments. The company was founded in 1973 by (until then amateur) luthier Roger Bucknall, and remains under his personal control. Originally located in

The Fylde The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills t ...

, in 1996 the workshop moved to the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...

, and is today located in

Penrith, Cumbria Penrith (, , ) is a market town and civil parish in the county of Cumbria, England, about south of Carlisle. It is less than outside the Lake District, Lake District National Park, in between the Rivers River Petteril, Petteril and River Ea ...

. The firm has four employees including Roger Bucknall. Their products include

acoustic guitars An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

acoustic bass guitar The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

s and

cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...

s, including some innovative designs. All their instruments are acoustic, with electric pickups as an option.

Company history

Roger Bucknall was born in Selly Oak, Birmingham in 1950, studied at Bounville Boys Technical School. He read for an honours degree in Mechanical Engineering at Nottingham University before working for Racal Thermionic in

Hythe, Hampshire Hythe () is a town near Southampton, Hampshire, England. It is located by the shore of Southampton Water, and has a ferry service connecting it to Southampton. Hythe has a small shopping area, a pier, and a marina for yachts. History The name ...

, as a technical author, then mechanical designer for industrial tape recorders from 1971 to 1973. Fylde Guitars was formed in 1973. Moved to Fylde, Lancashire and now resides in Penrith, Cumbria.

Snooker

From 1981 to 1992, Bucknall indulged his engineering brain in the manufacture of snooker cues and cases. He formed Barracuda Sports, invented the "push on" cue extension and the extruded aluminium cue case. He worked with all the top players of the time, particularly Ray Reardon. Bucknall sold the business in 1992 and relocated to Penrith to re-vitalise the instrument making business

Present day

Today, Fylde Instruments can command high prices and all instruments are hand-made using traditional techniques, while using modern machinery for some of the operations. Although there is a range of standard instruments that the business builds for customers most of Bucknall's output is a one-off custom guitars. The business has been scaled down to accommodate this approach. Bucknall has two assistants to help create instruments for some of the world's leading players.

Technical, innovation and awards

Roger Bucknall has been credited with the original design of the "A frame" guitar bracing, and is an advocate of the zero fret principle on guitar fingerboards. All of his instruments have been developed in collaboration with professional players. Bucknall is the only UK guitar maker to be awarded the ''Acoustic Guitar'' magazine Gold Award in 2000. He was filmed for the US NAMM oral history program and he is one of only two UK makers to be featured in the American publication ''Fretboard Journal'', the other being his friend Stefan Sobell. Bucknall was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to guitar making, music, and heritage crafts.

References

{{Reflist

External links

* http://www.fyldeguitars.com Company home page * BBC: Fylde Guitars' Roger Bucknall looks back at 40 years of acoustic adventures https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-25428665
Roger Bucknall Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2011) British luthiers Guitar manufacturing companies Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom