Bespoke musical instruments from the North West of England

The MANCAT guitar building marathon 2005 raised a massive £1,825 in aid of Children in Need.

We built a guitar and two mandolins in approximately 30 hours. All our guest artists praised the quality and sound of the instruments. And the raffle winners were thrilled with their prizes. The concert was a sell out and the hall was packed with an appreciative and knowledgeable audience.

Below are some photos of the build and the concert. And my personal thanks to all involved especially Mike Harding, Simon Mayor with Hilary James and Martin Simpson plus of course all my friends and colleagues in the Musical Instrument Technology centre at MANCAT; without their skills and enthusiasm, this event would not have taken place. 

This event has been generously sponsored by Craft Supplies, Touchstone Tonewoods, Hobgoblin Music and Johnny Roadhouse Music (Mcr)

Some of the team at MANCAT

Rob Broomhead, Don Franklin and Alan Fones hard at work

Yours truly gluing the guitar sound board halves together, not sure about the ear defenders.

Each instrument had a detailed label with signatures of the luthiers and details of the sponsors and the charity

The three instruments on display at the concert. A MartinOOO guitar and two Army/Navy Mandolins.

Martin dipping for a winner of the second mandolin.

Dr A Martin of the University of Manchester was the lucky winner of the guitar.

Andy Matthews the winner of the second mandolin

Martin Simpson, Mike Harding signed the guitar and Simon signed the mandolins

Our very special guests all on stage for the finale

One shot for the sponsors.

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Some of the team at MANCAT