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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Founder | Luke Joseph Sharples |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Acoustic guitars, ukuleles |
Joseph Lukes Guitars was a stringed instrument manufacturing company based in London, England. They produced one steel-string acoustic guitar model known as the "Grand Concert" and a ukulele. [1]
"Joseph Lukes Guitars Ltd." was originally formed in 2011 as J.S. Lukes Ltd. by Luke Joseph Sharples. The company underwent a name change in 2012 to Joseph Lukes Guitars. [2] The company was founded during Sharples’ undergraduate degree in Musical Instrument Technology at London Metropolitan University.
From 2011 to 2014, the company's limited company status has remained dormant with the company operating under self-employed status. [3]
The workshop was located at Artistic Spaces located in South Bermondsey, London however, relocated to Shoreditch, London in late 2014. [4] The company produces innovative handmade acoustic guitars created by the company's founder Luke Joseph Sharples. [5] The production of each instrument is done using hand tools and traditional methods without the use of electric tools or machines. CNC, side bending machines nor electric saws or drills are used in the construction of the instruments. The company's instrument production is structured to allow their luthiers to create an instrument from beginning to completion without the use of a factory line structure.
The company appeared in Acoustic magazine in the March 2014 issue in the section In the Workshop. [6] Later, in October 2014, Sharples provided the afterword in Acoustic Magazine's 'Book of British Guitar Making'.
The company attended South by South West in March 2014. In November 2014 the Joseph Lukes Guitars announced its participation as a lifestyle partner in La Maison Rémy Martin held at 19 Greek Street. [7] In April 2015, Joseph Lukes Guitars was nominated for the Making Business Happen Awards 2015 held at University of South Wales. [8] Shortly after, Joseph Lukes Guitars announced the release of its first guitar series, the FE Series featuring both an American Mahogany and East Indian Rosewood model in the Grand Concert size. Concurrently a string of appearances at guitar shows through 2015/2016 was also announced.
As of 2023, Joseph Lukes Guitars is no longer in business with the company having dissolved.
Joseph Lukes was a supporter of trades and manufacturing products locally. The company's slogan is: “Traditional Methods. Innovative Design.”
Joseph Lukes Guitars constructed high-end, handcrafted guitars and ukuleles using hand tools. Uses of wood working technologies such as CNC, laser cutting and UV lacquer curing, are not used on any of the instruments.
Each component, including inlay design, was done by hand. Due to their traditional construction methods Joseph Lukes does not have a mass market version of any of their instrument designs. The company produced, on average, twelve guitars per year. Each instrument takes at least 300 hours of labor. Construction of each guitar is strictly hand done thus limiting the company's output. Joseph Lukes Guitars produces instruments in the UK without the use of offshore production or manufacture.
Joseph Lukes Guitars product range comprised the following instruments:
The FE Series featured hybrid bracing™ and a sound port. The sound-hole is removed from the top, keeping the soundboard intact. The Grand Concert was the first model in the series, it has a 630mm scale length and the neck joins the body at the 12th fret with a total of 18 frets. The FE Series was available in either American Mahogany or East Indian Rosewood, with a choice of Sitka Spruce or Western Red Cedar soundboard.
The steel-string acoustic guitar is a modern form of guitar that descends from the gut-strung Romantic guitar, but is strung with steel strings for a brighter, louder sound. Like the modern classical guitar, it is often referred to simply as an acoustic guitar, or sometimes as a folk guitar.
The ukulele, also called a uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings.
C.F. Martin & Company is an American guitar manufacturer established in 1833 by Christian Frederick Martin. It is highly respected for its acoustic guitars and is a leading manufacturer of flat top guitars and ukuleles. The company has also made mandolins and tiples, as well as several models of electric guitars and electric basses, although none of these other instruments are still in production.
Washburn Guitars is an American brand and importer of guitars, mandolins, and other string instruments, originally established in 1883 in Chicago, Illinois. The Washburn name is controlled by U.S. Music Corp., a subsidiary of Canadian corporate group Exertis|JAM.
Godin Guitars is a Canadian manufacturing company headquartered in Montreal that specializes in string instruments. The company was founded by Robert Godin, and is currently led by Simon Godin.
The Jackson Soloist is an electric guitar model introduced by Jackson Guitars in 1984, although prototypes were available before then. The design is a typical "superstrat"; it varies from a typical Stratocaster because of its neck-thru design; tremolo: Floyd Rose or similar, Kahler; or a fixed Tune-O-Matic; premium woods; a deeper cutaway at the lower horn for better access to the higher frets, and a sharper body with squared-off edges.
The scale length of a string instrument is the maximum vibrating length of the strings that produce sound, and determines the range of tones that string can produce at a given tension. It is also called string length. On instruments in which strings are not "stopped" or divided in length, it is the actual length of string between the nut and the bridge.
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, resonating through the air in the body, and producing sound from the sound hole. While the original, general term for this stringed instrument is guitar, the retronym 'acoustic guitar' – often used to indicate the steel stringed model – distinguishes it from an electric guitar, which relies on electronic amplification. Typically, a guitar's body is a sound box, of which the top side serves as a sound board that enhances the vibration sounds of the strings. In standard tuning the guitar's six strings are tuned (low to high) E2 A2 D3 G3 B3 E4.
Tonewood refers to specific wood varieties used for woodwind or acoustic stringed instruments. The word implies that certain species exhibit qualities that enhance acoustic properties of the instruments, but other properties of the wood such as aesthetics and availability have always been considered in the selection of wood for musical instruments. According to Mottola's Cyclopedic Dictionary of Lutherie Terms, tonewood is:
Wood that is used to make stringed musical instruments. The term is often used to indicate wood species that are suitable for stringed musical instruments and, by exclusion, those that are not. But the list of species generally considered to be tonewoods changes constantly and has changed constantly throughout history.
Tacoma Guitars was an American manufacturing company of musical instruments. It was founded in 1991 as a division of South Korean company Young Chang. Instruments were manufactured in Tacoma, Washington. The company and brand name were later acquired by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. The Tacoma plant closed, and production ceased, in 2008.
Sigma Guitars is a guitar manufacturing brand originally released by C.F. Martin as a line of guitars at affordable prices to compete with the increasing number of imported guitars from Japan and elsewhere. The Sigma line was discontinued by Martin in 2007. The rights to the name were acquired by German company AMI Musical Instruments GmbH, which relaunched the brand with guitars being produced in China.
The dreadnought is a type of acoustic guitar body developed by American guitar manufacturer C.F. Martin & Company. The style, since copied by other guitar manufacturers, has become one of the most common for acoustic guitars. Its shape is characterized by square shoulders, a relatively flat tail end, and a wide waist with a large radius curve.
Cole Clark is an Australian manufacturer of guitars and other fretted instruments. The company is based in Bayswater, Melbourne and was founded in 2001. Cole Clark uses unique construction and designs, advanced live pickup technology and have a strong focus on sustainably sourced timbers.
Classical electric guitars, also known as nylon-string electric guitars, represent a unique fusion of traditional classical guitar design and modern electric guitar technology. These instruments combine the rich and warm tonal qualities of nylon-stringed classical guitars with the versatility and amplified sound capabilities of electric guitars. By integrating nylon strings with onboard electronics, pickups, and preamp systems, classical electric guitars offer musicians a wide range of sonic possibilities for various musical genres and performance settings.
Guitar manufacturing is the use of machines, tools, and labor in the production of electric and acoustic guitars. This phrase may be in reference to handcrafting guitars using traditional methods or assembly line production in large quantities using modern methods. Guitar manufacturing can also be broken into several categories such as body manufacturing and neck manufacturing, among others. Guitar manufacturing includes the production of alto, classical, tenor, and bass tuned guitars.
Collings Guitars is an Austin, Texas–based stringed instrument manufacturer. The company was founded in 1973 by BillCollings. In addition to acoustic guitars, Collings Guitars manufactures electric guitars, archtop guitars, mandolins and ukuleles.
Breedlove Guitars is an American acoustic instrument company based in Bend, Oregon. Breedlove produces acoustic guitars, acoustic bass guitars, and ukuleles.
The Martin D-28 is a dreadnought-style acoustic guitar made by C. F. Martin & Company of Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
Blackbird Guitars is a musical instrument company that manufactures acoustic guitars and ukuleles from composite materials, including carbon fiber and ekoa, a flax linen reinforcement fabric in a bio-epoxy matrix. The company has made contributions to both the field of luthiery and the field of composite design, notably with the composite all-hollow unibody instrument design used on all Blackbird models, as well as the development and use of Ekoa in the construction of fretted instruments.
Gurian Guitars was a manufacturer of high quality acoustic guitars based in New York City, then Hinsdale, New Hampshire and finally West Swanzey, New Hampshire, from the 1960s to 1981. The instruments were designed by luthier Michael Gurian who also supervised production of the instruments bearing his name. The company was one of the earliest "boutique" acoustic guitar makers in the United States, offering an alternative product to those of the larger, factory-based makers of the day, with instruments characterized by a distinctive shape, features and sound.
