It’s taken me a little longer to sit down and write about this than it should have. I’ve just taken part in the first ‘British Boutique Guitar Festival’. The really cool thing is, I actually co organised and hosted it with my good friend CGS. Known to many around the world as ‘China Mike’.
This guitar show, or festival is a little different from the others currently on offer in the U.K. at the moment. The focus of the festival was to really show off some of the best boutique builders that the U.K. has to offer. How did we feel was the best way to do this? To invite some of the best content creators from the industry. They were Leigh Fuge, Karl Golden, Mike Bradley and of course China Mike himself. They got to see, play and talk about the instruments, amps and accessories over the whole weekend. In the end it was a nice quid pro quo. The content creators got lots of content for their channels and the exhibitors got to reach whole new levels of audiences we could only dream about.
Building Relationships
Another aspect of the show was to ideally set up some long standing future relationships between the content creators and exhibitors. Some creators naturally gravitated towards certain exhibitors, and others to others. I guess it depends ultimately on their audience. What was clear is that there really was plenty for everyone. Over the coming months I’m sure you’ll see many of the creators from the first festival and their creations appearing on these channels. Personally I think the show was a huge success in this area. The feedback from exhibitors and content creators a like tells me they think so too.
A few highlights from the weekend included, Rob Dix from RD Amplification ; who got a lot of love for his amps. It’s easy to see why and I know first hand how great they are (he built me one!). Daniels guitars exhibited a stunning paisley LP jr double cut that I fell in love with! SBC, Turnstone & Swannell guitars all lived up to their ‘holy grail’ status as well and I music say It was quite intimidating setting up next to Rosie and across from Stuart. Even if we are friends, you can’t help but be in awe of their builds and workman / workwoman ship. I think it’s also safe to say that every single person enjoyed having Les from TJS guitars around as well… what a character!
Foundations For A Bigger Future
Before the third and final day of the festival, I was inundated with messages from potential exhibitors for future shows. In fact, I even had several content creators get in touch wishing to be there. One thing became apparent very quickly, next years show would have to be bigger, much bigger.
After a big debrief with China Mike, it was decided that not only would next summers be bigger, but that we would also try and do a winter show in early February. Fingers crossed we can work some magic and welcome some more fantastic british boutique brands on boards and help get them the exposure they deserve.
For more information on the British Boutique Guitar Festival, the brands and content creators head to www.bbgfest.co.uk
