The "Chapman Guitars News"

Chapman Guitars made the news a few weeks back, but that was just a small part of the overall story. The biggest guitar factory in the UK (UKGB) shut down.
In this video I look at how this closure has affected the brands that had guitar built there such as PJD, and Seth Baccus
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[@Smart-Alex]

Stevie T’s like “Thank God it’s not about me!”

[@NavidKhan84]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@findantu]

Xd

[@carnovector6396]

Bro busted his credit card this year and suddenly all eyes are on him he must be sweating bullets lmao

[@kkupsky6321]

He creeps me out so much

[@allanallan4791]

Ahahaha but hes getting nervous.

[@Omegon]

Chapman have handled this alot better than they had other issues before. You are 100% correct to highlight the bigger problem concerning the factory itself. Fingers crossed for a greater silver lining, in the future.

[@ElenaTheMenace]

Solidarity and sympathy for those who lost their jobs

[@the.communist]

Mcdonalds is looking for staff

[@mikejones-vd3fg]

When Henry Ford packed up his plant and left my dad jobless 1 year before retirement. Which they have every right to do so. I learned you cant rely on someone for a job, you gotta make your own. And you can In todays day in age with tools we've never had before, you dont need to work for a guitar company, you can spec out and order a bunch of guitars from a chinese factory and slap your logo on it too!

[@hirawstra8edge137]

thankyou for saying, as this normally get forgotten about, its very sad indeed, and more UK business that will be out sourced.

[@thatonemisfit172]

KDH is like my main man for guitar news. He's always on top of it

[@paulyvee]

Agreed

[@shakeyoulikehaiti]

Well this wasn't a helpful comment at all. Commenting random stuff for the sake of being one of the first commenters is kind of weird lmao.

[@luisbarrera5740]

Yes actually.

[@EmileA-gs1kk]

@@shakeyoulikehaiti bro hes just showing his appreciation.

[@shakeyoulikehaiti]

@@EmileA-gs1kk lol okay

[@robertjones9598]

That's cool man. Nice to see a fair and balanced reporting from you! Certainly adds to your integrity. 👍

[@truthtorpedo99]

Rob sees new Chapman video from KDH Rob anxiety raises!!!

[@paullee3660]

Seems to me that Chapman are handling it very well. They have kept people informed, given refunds, and acquired a new source of UK guitars and not taken orders until it is up and running. They couldn’t really do any more.

[@castleanthrax1833]

So, they are abiding by the law, and also trying to salvage their public reputation atst. Seems like they are doing the common sense thing to me?

[@paullee3660]

@@castleanthrax1833 well isn’t it good to see a company doing something properly, when so many definitely are not? Would you rather they make a half-arsed attempt at looking after their customers?

[@castleanthrax1833]

@@paullee3660 Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound right now? Your first comment praises Chapman guitars for adopting common sense business practices, and your follow up comment (to me) asks a stupid rhetorical question, that is totally irrelevant, at least in the context of my comment. If you have something to say that is relevant to my comment, I'll be here.

[@paullee3660]

@@castleanthrax1833 gosh what a pleasant person you are. You keyboard warriors are quite pathetic.

[@castleanthrax1833]

@@paullee3660 My apologies for not praising Chapman guitars for abiding by the law, and conducting their business in an ethical manner. How wonderful are they, the "incredibly average Chapman guitar people". Smh.

[@myoptik3x103]

I appreciate the effort you put into bringing us this story.

[@UltraMegaSeaMonkey]

Yo KDH your videos are gas. One of my fav youtubers atm

[@JoshuaC923]

Thanks for your coverage, your content has improved over the years. Well done!

[@dana.9377]

The name U- KGB is just hilarious to me

[@colinmcguigan4630]

The real headline is "KDH Charitable Towards Chapman"

[@RichardsGuitarshop]

Or maybe "Chapman KDH Signature Model Confirmed" 😅

[@schpeidermann]

Aside from the great content, the idea with the background light is very nice touch! If I may provide some advice: some additional soft light source would eliminate the lowlight grain you very often have. This way you can go down to your native/lower ISO and have a much clearer image! And set your shutter speed two times higher than your frame rate. So if you shoot in 25p --> have a 1/50 shutter speed. If you move your camera 10-20cm forward and yourself 30-40cm (from my perspective) to the left, we could see you perfectly with a better guitar-background. Just a thought! Try it out!

[@neeravmusic]

This is great guitar music journalism. Keep it up KDH!

[@RichardsGuitarshop]

I think KDH may have bagged himself a signature model for this video :) I think KDH has indeed highlighted the utterly tragic reality of the Guitar Industry - that Chapmans "UK Built Guitars" - have become bigger news - higher profile - despite being no more than a very poorly executed dream - than A) UK Guitar Builders themselves who actually made the guitars B) Gordon Smith acquiring the hardware to enable them to continue developing this amazing Heritage Brand. Gordon Smith have been building guitars in the UK for 50 years - Their guitars are incredible quality, and I just think its tragic that Chapman seem to be able to overshadow the "real builders" with marketing and brand image (although hats off to Chapman as a great marketeer - genuinely - not my cup of tea but credit where its due ). Hopefully, this Saga has opened the eyes of players who were less aware of the reality that very few brands actually make their own guitars these days - Whether it be Ibanez or Chapman. My focus will always be on the guitar - not the image and if others did the same there would be little room for Chapman guitars - or many others come to mention it - all of which are "mehh" / "same ol same ol'" all with different marketing approaches but basically all the exact same cookie cutter product.

[@JohnDoeWasntTaken]

Guitar brands are a strange deal when you think about it. The only guitars they actually make themselves are their high end models it seems. The only Ibanezes you can buy made by Ibanez themselves are going to be the j.Customs that are handmade, and same goes for ESPs where they don't even put their name on the headstock until you get into handmade territory. And the handmade ESPs are usually more expensive than j.Customs. I guess that is just the way things have to be, if it enables them to put out cheap guitars that are actually decent then it's no big deal. Just strange compared to how brands operate in most other markets. ESP uses it to their advantage by attaching a sort of prestige to their brand/logo, if you see it on the headstock then you know that guitar is the highest end you can get.

[@BecomeTheKnight]

KDH bringin us the str8 fax 💪 Great video man 🤘🔥

[@BigMuff75]

KDH is apparently the sole remaining investigative journalist in the business.^^

[@jm6651]

This dude loves every time there is chapman news. He is like tmz for guitar news.

[@BlugubriousMusic]

Still hoping for a video on the ridiculous lawsuit from Fender to a mom and pop company that makes windguards for flutes. You are certainly someone who could contribute to the discussion.

[@alpeterson]

I’d love to hear some of KDH’s thoughts and even research findings on Crimson Guitars. Not that I think anything weird is happening at Crimson, just that KDH is so passionate about British guitar anything I’m surprised I haven’t heard him talk about them yet.

[@mixodorians12]

Oh he shits over everybody eventually.

[@alpeterson]

@@mixodorians12 accurate research isn’t shitting on someone, and I’m not worried about that with Crimson since they have a stellar rep.

[@alfsmith4936]

I can't stand listening to the bloke with the spiders web on his head for long but he gives some good information out to help other techs/builders and their guitars look stellar!

[@alpeterson]

@@alfsmith4936 really?? Man I gotta say Ben’s voice and accent for me are fantastic, I want him to read me stories while I fall asleep. lol But I’m Canadian so my take on a pleasant English accent is from that perspective.

[@alfsmith4936]

@@alpeterson I'm just jealous of his workshop to be honest.. I think he's South African but It's an accent that says "rich parents" to me.

[@sunn_bass]

Thanks for the video. You do great work for the guitar community. Always bad when a guitar builder closes. Brands really start becoming meaningless when so many companies subcontract their work. Brand A subcontracts its guitars to Brand B. Brand B closes and Brand A switches to Brand C. Brands these days are just decals for the most part.

[@JohnDoeWasntTaken]

When it comes to lower cost guitars you are right on the money. It's not until you get to the higher end that the guitars are actually made by the brands themselves. It makes sense why a brand like ESP only puts their name on the guitars they make by hand, and not the ones that are made in Indonesian factories. Otherwise people may associate the brand with lower quality than ESP is capable of producing. Although that was really more of a move to make the expensive guitars more enticing by forcing you to shell out for a "real" ESP. All of these smaller guitar brands might as well be interchangeable when they subcontract the same production lines.

[@jasondonovan1408]

Actually, as long as the standards and spec tolerance is there, it doesn't matter who builds it.

[@sunn_bass]

@@jasondonovan1408 as long as i like the way it plays, I'm happy.

[@jasondonovan1408]

@@sunn_bass Makes sense.

[@mysickfix]

Im guessing its the light levels when you filmed, but the video looks static-y and low res, despite being on 1080. like an iphone in lower light conditions. great vid as always of course!!!!

[@FuzzWoof]

If I was going to pay custom UK built guitar money, I'd not want the name Chapman on it - I'd want the name of whoever made it, and I'd want all the money to go to them rather than a large chunk of it lining Rob's pockets. I'm glad Auden/Gordon Smith stepped in to slurp up the UKGB stocks and tools though, they really are making some absolutely amazing guitars at the moment. Played a GS Strat type a couple of days ago which blew me away with both the quality and the fact it was a top notch UK built instrument costing slightly less than the rather average in comparison US Fender Pro Strat next to it on the rack.

[@AWMJoeyjoejoe]

That was my thought. Who would pay £3500 for a chapman? They're asking Ferrari level money for a Hyundai level brand.

[@MercutioUK2006]

The main issue, for me, was that they were attempting to charge insane amounts of money for a guitar you could happily find the equivalent of for far less cash, by a more reputable company with a proven track record.....but.....any blow to English guitar building is to be lamented.

[@krusher74]

im sorry for the young kids that drink chapman coolaid and dont realize that what he makes isnt made of gold.

[@ShawnSharkey4]

Hoping the best for all of the companies struggling. Life’s tough and it’s also tough for someone to be honest about quality control.

[@domjoch]

@KDH good journalistic work you did here. Top job mate!

[@retroquest3579]

I am an American who has been to MANY a musical store, in MANY a state, and I have never seen a Chapman in real life. I have seen a few Solars, an Ormsby, a few old Parkers, and even a Dingwall in real life, but never a Chapman. I don't believe they were very popular in the states, for whatever reason.

[@mixodorians12]

They were in guitar centre and sweet water. He even did a massive U.S tour (with a boss katana amp) promoting them. Did clinics and everything.

[@Lovell93]

​@BearPaw I've never seen a Chapman at my local Guitar Center in Florence, KY. I am driving to Sweetwater to buy a PRS Saturday so I'll report back if I see them there lol

[@retroquest3579]

There is a local Guitar Center just down the road and I have been there a hundred times, but they have never had a Chapman guitar.

[@nihilistlivesmatter]

The internet: Cheap far eastern guitars with a pickup swap & set up are better than any overpriced custom shop Also the internet: Reeee!!!!! they closed down a british guitar factory!!

[@smelltheglove2038]

I do not get it at all, the Chinese knockoffs thing. I understand people upset that a business in their home country closes. That really sucks.

[@Slaghill]

@@smelltheglove2038, that's Capitalism... 🤷‍♂️

[@brpadington]

​@@Slaghill Slave labor isn't free trade.

[@alfsmith4936]

@@brpadington Unfortunately, not many can afford not to take advantage of the Chinese prices. We could always pay our own workers less, in a cost of living crisis...

[@marcussoininen2084]

@@brpadington Free trade has an awful habit of leading to slave labor though.

[@JamesWilson01]

Damn, I wish Chapman Guitars didn't break the news. Then we could've had The Chappening - Part II on this channel 🔥

[@DimKAt21]

😆

[@lglg64]

Me trying to understand if he likes chapman based on the thumbnail:

[@degayify]

The universe is trying to tell Rob that these guitars have no place. People won't even buy the budget line anymore, his prime and brand recognition has passed since way long ago and Andertons have outgrown him for a good while now

[@castleanthrax1833]

I'm Australian and every local music store is filled with Chapman guitars, filling up the "clearance" part of their websites. They all look nice, but I think I'd have an eternal "bad taste" in my mouth, if I purchased one of them?

[@synonyx]

100% on that one

[@Lovell93]

​@@castleanthrax1833 Why, what is so bad about the guitars?

[@Lovell93]

​@@castleanthrax1833 or is it something with the company morally?

[@castleanthrax1833]

@@Lovell93 The company's figurehead Rob Chapman is a bit of a douche. I don't know much about their guitars, but I would think they are pretty comparable to similarly priced guitars. I just don't like someone who thinks he is better than other people, which RC definitely does.

[@Drumming_Monkey]

"Bet you didn't see that one coming" Get out of my mind, dude!

[@RebieRebs]

I do not play guitars but I do play the bass, still... I really enjoy your videos you put out. I like it when you dive deep into these topics and share them with the music community in general. Thanks for that. It is good to stay informed :)

[@castleanthrax1833]

I'm sorry to break the news to you, but "bass" is shorthand for "bass guitar". Bass guitars ARE GUITARS.

[@jxy_vbn8156]

@@castleanthrax1833 you’re splitting hairs. Does it really matter that much?

[@castleanthrax1833]

@@jxy_vbn8156 It matters enough for you to reply to me, doesn't it?

[@jxy_vbn8156]

@@castleanthrax1833 that or I was just curious as to why it bothered you so much that you felt the need to specifically point it out to some poor bastard showing appreciation for this video and from the looks of things, probably doesn’t speak English as his first language. Yeah ok, cool but who asked?

[@castleanthrax1833]

@@jxy_vbn8156 You asked, unless the question mark at the end of your comment, indicates something different where you come from. To us, meaning native speakers of English (myself and the person who started this thread) a question mark means you are asking a question. 🤦‍♂️

[@scottbrower9052]

I wish/hope that Chapman would get their act together. Two years ago, I bought a Korean-made Chapman. Of the handful of guitars I own, it is the best built (by far) & has the best value-for-money feature set. (If you're interested, my other guitars are two US-made Gibsons & an LTD.)

[@Broccoli_Highkicks]

All Gibsons are US-made. I've owned two myself, and replaced them both with their Vintage (UK brand) counterparts, which have much better build quality, QC, and out-of-the-box setup, and are far more inspiring to play. The only good thing about the Gibsons is that they hold their value much better on the used market, simply because of the name on the headstock and not for any objective reasons of quality. A lot of people would rather regurgitate marketing slogans than think critically. I sold the only LTD I've had as well years ago. Didn't gel with it. Never really saw another one that I just had to have. And like many companies, they've taken advantage of the excuse of inflation to jack up their prices to where CNC-made in Indonesia costs the same as handmade in Japan did a few years ago, and I'm not playing along with pretending times are hard just so corporations can pay out record dividends to shareholders...

[@ashleyjohansson230]

Im about to buy a gibson custom shop in sparkle finish. cant wait.

[@castleanthrax1833]

​@@Broccoli_Highkicks Are you using his "US made Gibsons" faux pas as some sort of evidence that he is mistaken about the quality of his "Chapman" guitar? I have never even contemplated buying a "Chapman", but that doesn't mean they aren't good, and your rant about the lack of quality with Gibson is misguided too. Gibsons QC is certainly lacking, but I'd estimate that as many great ones as poor ones, come from their factory. I think you just have an axe to grind, but you just come off as petty.

[@stndrd3608]

I’ve got an Indonesia Rabea baritone für around 700€ and I can’t find any flaws tbh. Definitely feels more like 1000+ I was quite sceptical of the brand but I‘m really happy with that guitar.

[@Wagoo]

LTD is made in the same factories (World Music) as Chapman.. 🤷‍♀️

[@TurbulentJuice]

I got my Chapman ML3 Pro Modern during one of their epic deals so I didn't pay a whole lot for it. It's solid, it's a perfect WMI Korean guitar. The other brands selling their guitars out of that factory in Korea make you pay significantly more for the same specs. It's the Hot Blue one, makes people go nuts in person especially when I tell them it's one of my cheapest guitars!! Try one, give a guy a second chance I don't think many of us would be much better under the same circumstances.

[@megasailwhore]

I just bought the same guitar. It's bloody awesome.

[@rodennis418]

With things I see in business regularly, I think they get some big bonus points being proactive with their customers. So many would let it linger until the customer contacts them hoping they can just resolve it and not lose the sale.

[@josuesamaniego182]

I always enjoy your videos because you’re only factual and not trying to cause drama for clickbait. Always informative 👍🏻

[@mixodorians12]

Lol...wat? That's all he does.

[@alfsmith4936]

I used to watch an American channel but he turned into a far right conspiracy nut job, then hid my comments on his channel, whilst complaining about 'woke cancel culture' lol

[@morgothbauglir906]

​@@alfsmith4936was this even guitar related or are you just venting?

[@alfsmith4936]

@@morgothbauglir906 Yes.. His channel used to be about guitar/amp repair but became a platform for political rants, using bad faith arguments from the American far right. He lost most of his viewers and complained about it, then banned anyone who told him why.

[@DaveyMulholland]

​@@alfsmith4936 ha! Me too!

[@CyberChrist]

I'm glad to hear the Chapman guys talked to you, at least they did _that_ right.

[@kcapkcans]

I'm excited for the KDH Signature Chapman

[@TiberiusWallace]

It's highly possible that Chapman were only involved with this factory because the factory company were putting out very seductively priced contracts to get big orders in in order to keep the factory open. Hence why it was a preorder system and not a masterbuild up for sale batch.

[@wilberttboonzaaier2550]

Hey man you still take pictures of players circle codes on daddario strings? I have a few that Id like to send for someone to use, cant use them mysef Im from South Africa. Thanks and keep up the great work delivering the news!

[@CM-eo1rp]

Been waiting for this one

[@leeow3n]

How are there so many guitar brands we've never heard of? 🤘

[@johnhutton9105]

Very fair video that. No-one wants to see a guitar factory close and workers lose their jobs.

[@johnnypk1963]

Considering where the world is headed economically this probably isn’t the first time we’ll be hearing updates that may not be so great

[@foofy14]

I'm from Cornwall and never knew we had a Guitar builder here. Nice!

[@famtoonen18]

Good vid mate, thx for the details. Unfortunately, this is not only happening to guitar mfgs in the UK/Europe/US. This is what globalization of mfg does. Only a small proportion of local mfg will continue in the western part of the world.

[@johnasbury3744]

Really enjoy your videos great stuff

[@TheFierceAndTheDead]

Doug who runs Auden is a really good man, they're in safe hands there.

[@PeterWasted]

I have no personal knowledge of him but I do question this acquisition. Where's the money coming from? The joint brands of Auden and Gordon Smith might have done well in the pandemic but I doubt guitar manufacture is lucrative enough for this to be a cash transaction. More tools, more stock and new facilities implies a need to increase production to cover overheads at a time when most people are discovering disposable income hard to find...

[@TheFierceAndTheDead]

@@PeterWasted not my place to say but he's deffo a dude who knows what he's doing and makes amazing guitatrs

[@timwhite5562]

Rob Chapman sent the anonymous to hold you off a day.

[@jakewilson7211]

The difference is solar announced a European hand made guitar and the delivered those guitars within a month of the announcement

[@CS-ru4xd]

In a smaller scale limited to only so many. It wasn't like the European plant had to produce hundreds of guitars all at once and Ola probably had some readily available connections in place beforehand as did Rob but he couldn't control the plant shutting down.

[@jakewilson7211]

@@CS-ru4xd do you think chapman had to make hundreds? I don’t think they would be that popular tbh and this isn’t the first time chapman "uk" series has been launched and then not actually happened, yes this time maybe not his fault but it’s really not looking great for chapman.

[@DMSProduktions]

That's a BUGGER hey! Sorry to hear that!

[@synonyx]

Fair reporting - I still think there has been too many problems for me to warrant ever giving them a dollar though. Just no confidence at this point.

[@nicholaspossinger7993]

Wait is there another reason I don't want to consider buying Chapman? I recently got my first Gretsch and I'm never looking back! Incredible guitars, supremely comfortable and LIGHT, and awesome players all around! And they have some of the most fair pricing out there today! I'm telling ya all you need is a Gretsch and a strat and you're fuckin set

[@primeDecomposition]

I mean, well for example, if your aim is to write and perform tech-death metal riffs, a Gretsch or a strat just isn’t gonna cut it lol. Could think of many more examples.

[@xanderlurks]

Need more lights in your studio turned on, this video came out a little grainy, other than that all good as always 😊

[@robbirose7032]

That's not thw reason. You were watching a low res upload.

[@KDH]

Unfortunately my main light is broken at the moment so I had to work with what I had

[@ChrisP3000x]

@@robbirose7032 Wrong.

[@brentjohnson5171]

Years ago I signed an endorsement deal with a brand that will remain nameless. Most of their production was done in Asia and then they were sort of set up and fine tuned by the company in Europe. When I asked him if there was a difference in quality vs producing them 100% in Europe he said "That CNC machine doesn't know whether it's plugged in in Birmingham or Bangladesh. As long as the materials are the same you'll get the same quality no matter where the bodies and necks are cut. He was right. They're killer guitars. I'm very happy with all of mine.

[@RabihSaadguitars]

Its hard times in Europe/UK now and its unfortunate...

[@michael-tx8rw]

fair as always. that sucks about the factory.

[@scwebb]

Wouldn’t be surprised to see Crimson pick up the Chapman UK builds. They’ve recently been moving staff over to manufacturing 3rd party guitars and have some connections with Andertons/Chapman already. The only issue may be scale, but I don’t know of any other UK manufacturers that can build in quantity anyway.

[@castleanthrax1833]

What about the dude who bought all the plant and equipment from the "defunct" manufacturer? Wouldn't they be the logical choice?

[@scwebb]

@@castleanthrax1833 You’d still need the manpower & expertise that goes with them. CNC machines will cut out the parts but not assemble and finish the guitars. It will be a company with a track record of guitar building and the staff to do so to a high level of quality (I hope!)

[@castleanthrax1833]

@@scwebb Does the purchaser of the equipment, not have that?

[@scwebb]

@@castleanthrax1833 I’ve just looked them up and (as of their last filing) they only employ 9 people, so although they do have something of a track record I suspect they would need to expand the number of expert staff significantly before they could take on a job like Chapman. Also they’ve put out a statement saying “we’re not doing them” 🤣

[@nabilsalha1941]

Getting the popcorn!!

[@musemuser777]

Rather just go with Manson if I'm going with a UK builder. New strat prototype is coming from them soon... 🔥🎸🔥

[@SilasMoleCatcher]

Right, drink poured, snacks of choice to hand... Love a bit of KDH / Chapman malarky 😊

[@nuitari666uzgurzmor6]

As you are from Ireland, do you have experience with Chris Larkin guitars? I had a bass from him and it was killer

[@KDH]

I met Chris (must have been over 10 years ago) I played one of his guitars and he was very nice. It’s sad that he died a few years ago.

[@martinhagen2913]

Looks like Chapman stops at nothing to gain PR, we've seen it before with the whole charity thing and it seems to be his modus operandi. His narcissism really hits new levels.

[@mixodorians12]

Do you even know what narcassism is? Chapman seems like a nice, decent bloke to me who has a lot of friends and they all seem to like and admire him, and like his company. That would not happen if he was a narcissist. They would be drained of all happiness....

[@ericvandruten]

@@mixodorians12 nope. narcissist.

[@martinhagen2913]

@@mixodorians12 hahaha that made me laugh and vomit a bit in my mouth. Lets agree to disagree shall we?

[@duderama6750]

​@@mixodorians12 Ask yourself that question. The center of every social circle is a narcissist. It doesn't make them bad people. There is a spectrum running from benevolent to toxic.

[@andrewhernandez9674]

You're really getting good at KZbin, dude. I hope if you want to continue doing this as a career you enjoy further success.

[@QaisEssar]

you're a legend

[@ashleyjohansson230]

These youtube guitar brands are like if I asked aliexpress factory to build a guitar exactly the way I want it and slap my branding on the headstock and dropshipped it at a much higher price lol.

[@georgeprice4212]

This is one where Chapman Guitars should not be blamed for, but should be considered one of many companies affected by another company closing. And I think that offers of refunds was a smart move…even if it cost Chapman Guitars money in the end.

[@B_Wolfen]

Yeah, not the easiest of times for Chapman. I found it quite hilarious that the big reveal at The Guitar Show, Birmingham, the Danish Pete signature Chapman, was an instrument with a masking tape on the headstock that had DPT (Danish Pete Tele) scribbled on it. Amateur branding at its best

[@itchyvinyl]

I’m buying one the minute it comes out.

[@MrRafaztar]

Always asking the important questions, you’re welcome 😅 5:33 (it is me 😂)

[@TheRemulosEpsolonProgramme]

It’ll probably be a bad/sad day for the guitar world. But Rob Chapman going out of business can’t happen/come soon enough.

[@saleemisgod]

where is/was this factory? And what was their purpose, building luthier guitars?

[@rocketPower047]

Guitarzilla is back!

[@jenniferlawrence2701]

Why'd they close? Energy costs?

[@allanflippin2453]

Thanks for the unbiased scoop on this situation. I'm sure you'll be back to busting Chapman's chops when the time calls for it :D Rock on!

[@castleanthrax1833]

Whilst I certainly enjoy learning about the "guitar world" scandals, you can't really praise someone for being impartial or unbiased, when they are playing the part of an investigative journalist. If KDH wasn't unbiased, this would wind up just being a "slagging off".

[@LedZeppelinHK]

i was a fan of Chapman but i started to dislike him after he did some shady things such as asking his fans to donate money to cover the stolen gears ( didnt insure) at that point, he already made a fortune from his guitars. why not cover it with his own money? and take it as a lesson? hes a very quesationable guy

[@Guitar-uc4dx]

TRUTH!

[@Wagoo]

I'm not bothered about that. The main thing that bothered me was he got rid of his puppy, Luna, when his missus got pregnant. Like somehow a dog and a baby don't go well together perfectly fine. I still don't know what happened, ideally passed to a friend like Silvja-elf or his dad.. but it's unthinkable to give up a pet for those reasons to me.

[@LedZeppelinHK]

@@Wagoo thats fuked up. i didnt know that

[@Wagoo]

@Abe Froman A puppy is for life, not just for Christmas 🐕

[@Alfredo78666]

KDH on the nail

[@Barbarapape]

Chapman tried to fill a niche by offering custom UK made guitars but sadly picked a builder that must have been in dificulty for some time. It is never good to hear of skilled people loosing their jobs, hopefully some will be offered positions in the new factory. There is only a limited demand for custom made guitars, i searched a few years ago when i wanted a custom guitar made to a very high standard, i found 42nd Street guitars and they made me an excellent one, their website is still there.

[@shoominati23]

I wonder if anyone saved the Statement that Riff City guitars released a couple of years ago about the whole Chapman Guitars fiasco, but soon after took down? I'd like to see it as I didn't get a chance to look at it when it was posted (and removed.)

[@theghostofsirjohnharveyjon8730]

Hand built by Chinese CNC robots in the UK What a delightful marketing Idea. Kaching old boy.

[@AnimalJohn85]

PJD finally re-wording to handbuilt rather than handmade but 'affordabe' is laughable. As far as the news of a major guitar manufacturing plant in the UK going under though, truly shite news. Nicely covered as ever sir.

[@timradford4393]

Well said! PJD guitars are really little more than CNC kits assembled by hand, with a ludicrous price tag attached purely on the basis of being British. We stocked then in the early days and every customer who picked one up genuinely believed they were £800-£1000 guitars, not the £2800-£3250 guitars the price tags indicated. We ended up sending them all back after two of the six we had were so badly set up that they needed a full reset. PJD's response when we requested replacements "your tech should be able to rectify them". Out the door they went!

[@chadwickhurlburt6529]

You're being a good friend.

[@booshting3520]

There's no market for these guitars. The ship has sailed on the brand beyond beginners guitars. Theres no buzz

[@vladv5126]

Only fret buzz.

[@barra6709]

There was. Rob just gave them a ton of negative pr of which their rep never recovered

[@booshting3520]

@@barra6709 I'd say that's accurate.

[@roytofilovski9530]

26 people. That is more of a large workshop than an actual "factory". Seems to me that they were building for a number of small brands, which begs the question - why did they shut down? I am assuming that they employed 26 luthiers or at least 26 people with broad skills, and not just 26 assembly line workers. In that case, if orders fall you can just temporarily lay off a few people and keep moving ahead. It's larger operations that tend to liquidate, not makers of hand-made items.

[@1b2m]

That's what comes from Brexit, methinks. Previously, all of Europe could order from the UK and just wait for stuff to arrive at their doorstep. Now, post Brexit, when ordering things from British manufacturers, it would involve re-calculation of prices without taxes, adding EU taxes on top, waiting for a letter from the customs office, taking time off work to actually go to the customs office, be treated like you'd ordered explosive chemical weapons, pay customs and import fees, and then carry the thing home somehow. Before Brexit, when it was easy, convenient, and sometimes very affordable compared to other EU prices, I would order loads of things from the UK onto the mainland. Now, I don't even consider it an option, just too much bloody hassle, and too expensive. That's what you get for not voting, and/or for voting shit because you're dumb, my beloved motherland.

[@DimKAt21]

The ugly truth.

[@timwhite5562]

Who makes the guitars that are like Gibson Firebirds in a Singlecut design? I thought it was PJD, but can't find them. Im really intrigued by them; I really like the sound of the Firebird but never liked the first itself. They look cool but they're cumbersome, like playing an old WW2 BAR with strings.

[@stevenhoneywill5107]

Ivison Dakota?

[@timwhite5562]

@@stevenhoneywill5107 It is, ATB Dakota, I just checked. I knew it was some three letter name. Unfortunately he used a short 24.65" Vintage LP scale instead of the 25.5", which kind of defeats the purpose. Still cool though.

[@stevenhoneywill5107]

Yeah, cool looking guitars, I'd like one!

[@Jaysteenn]

👍👍👍

[@BlueberryStinkFinger62]

I like this guy he's one of the few KZbinrs that actually tells the truth keep up the grate work

[@Nesierax]

He always gets the big cheese

[@johnrogers2826]

I think it would be okay if Rob Chapman just went away.

[@gr8tnowwhat]

I hope the other factory and maybe some of the smaller builders can offer a few of those people some jobs. I do think that this drama should be avoided as public knowledge. Its a production problem that should stay within the company and they should just focus on delivering their orders.

[@fives.]

Gordon-Smith: “still a joke to you, am I, Robert?”

[@Bob-of-Zoid]

Makes You wonder why the factory closed when they may have had reason to expand!

[@Furtheronmusic]

Like yourself when I saw the announcement my real concern was the loss of UKGB

[@DayZer1987]

Saw the title and said "on not again...what now?" LMAO but surprised it isn't bad news about Chapman for a change.

[@Will_M600]

i'm not a huge fan of rob or champan guitars (i had an early ml2 and hated it) but i like how they've handled this. clearly a proper respectable company these days, nice to see.

[@Joe-mz6dc]

Well that's a shame. At the end of the day you can't help but wish good luck to all parties involved. Everyone wants others to succeed. We're All in This together. We're all musicians.

[@_Yep_Yep_]

Christ i cannot wait for the swamp ash trend to go away. Interesting news on Chapman getting put behind the 8 ball by a ghost builder, however. I appreciate the journalistic integrity you put into making a follow up, also. My initial opinion was that Chapman was the bad actor and this video disabused me of that notion.

[@Realroyrogers]

Auden MIC will be Chapman's production facilities ?

[@gnpajeff1]

If Chapman cant do it in the UK. Send it to the great builders in S Korea !!

[@Faithinthedock]

That's really poo about UKGB. I think the boom of mid-range (500-ish pounds and below) priced guitars, really puts pressure on these more 'exclusive' brands that will surely be significantly more expensive than Indonesian / Korean (etc etc) guitars. I have Indonesian made guitars and the quality is very good, so in these tricky times, it's hard to justify a UK made guitar unless I really really want one. On a side note, what is a little sad is having multiple brands made by a 'generic' manufacturer. Ok so the specs will be set by brand on the headstock but it's still made by a common entity. A sign of the times I'm sure but you do kinda want your Ibanez to have had different hands on it to your Fender, PRS and Schecter etc.. Sorry for the UKGB gang though. Hope they all find new work in the industry..