Blackspot Guitars is also a brand of handmade guitars. It was set up to combine a new approach to guitar design with the highest quality craftsmanship.
The designs mix the vintage feel from the heart of the great guitar makers with influences from outside the traditional loop of the guitar world. Made from the finest timbers and components, these guitars blend playability, sound and style like no other. Check out our range, or contact us for custom options. All our guitars are individually built, coloured and finished (in house), to satisfy the most demanding standards of design and craftsmanship.
Designer and maker for 20 years, and guitar player for 30 years, (he made his first guitar at 9 years old) Patrick Alexander runs Blackspot Guitars from his workshop in Bristol, UK, to produce guitars that have the look and quality lost in the mass produced product available today.
All instruments are unique, with even the choice of inlay material or components influencing every other design decision - keeping each guitar individual and specific to your requirements.
All our timbers are sourced from ethical suppliers.
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Handmade means handmade
All timber is individually selected from the top luthiers suppliers and stabilised in our workshops either before any work commences or at appropriate stages of the making period (3-6 months). With the custom nature of our product it’s not a temptation to mass produce our bodies or necks. All work is undertaken in-house, right up to colouring and finishing with a thin vintage style laquer. If we decide a contour for a neck or final colour, we are the people who produce it.
Who's Played Blackspot
Neil Stonebanks - ex Babyshambles / The I.V's • Steve Strong - Nu'Trons • Jonnie Westrup - New Acoustics • Sean Snook of Malago plays Blackspot at the 06 Orange Festival, Ashton Court • Charlie Finke- Penthouse/The Cesarians • Tim Williams - The Crook Family
Diversity of tone quality, weight and look
Blackspot have 3 shapes with a choice of American Black Walnut, European Cherry or Canadian Maple, making for a diverse range of tone quality, weight and look.
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Standard Range
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Custom Models
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Necks
- All necks are set with a fully captive tenon joint.
- 630mm scale length as standard
- 44.6mm width as standard – options available
- A chunky neck profile for fat tone transmission is our preferred option– of course you can specify your own profile
- Likewise a 16” fretboard radius is our preferred choice with options available on request
- Position Markers are in our unique to Blackspot “Circle to elipse” design
Hardware
Top quality Gotoh components with a choice of Kluson style or sealed machine head units. Strung with 11’s as standard for great tone, and with our precision made necks and fretting with super low action, as easy to play as 9’s – and we definitely use 11’s!
Pickups
All of our guitars have a choice of humbucking or P90 pickup handwound by Bareknuckle Pickups…
Custom made Acoustics for the discerning player
The new stock Model P-11 acoustic has been reviewed very favourably in May 09’s Acoustic Magazine. Click here for the full spec.
Other acoustics are made to order. South American hardwoods are strictly used only when reclaimed by me. Nut and saddle are always hand cut and fitted bone. Gotoh tuners are standard, with others available on request. Under saddle pickups from www.headwayelectronics.com are recommended and work very successfully on Blackspot, other pickup systems are available on request. Finish is a thin Nitro cellulose as standard or oil finish on special request – and an understanding of the nature of an oiled finish!
Prices start at £1850 although this includes top quality tonewood and a high degree of decoration as standard – please contact me for details and options. With the variables of size, choice of tonewood and decoration, each acoustic really has to be seen as an individual instrument, and so I don’t have standard models.
