John Hornby Skewes and Co. Ltd. began distributing the full range of Graph Tech Guitar Labs products in the UK from 1st August 2014.
Graph Tech Guitar Labs produce some of the industry's most innovative and reliable nuts, saddles bridge pins, bridges and pickup systems and are used on some of the biggest names in the guitar world. Through patented methods and proprietary techniques, Graph Tech has designed specific tone and performance enhancements.
Almost three decades ago, Graph Tech's president Dave Dunwoodie was spurred on to start the company "on his kitchen table" after a bad experience with his guitars vibrato system at a gig. During a guitar solo, he was immediately introduced to the problem of string binding on traditional guitar nuts. "I went to do my first "wang" and went totally out of tune" Dave said. "I couldn't use the guitar for stage work at all!"
Dave began experimenting with a variety of composite guitar nuts designed to eliminate string binding. He engineered the world's first self-lubricating nut in 1983, a formula 500% more slippery than graphite. Almost thirty years later Graph Tech has created some of the worlds most recognised products and brands in the music industry such as String Saver Saddles the first saddle to drastically reduce string breakage in 1990, TUSQ man-made Ivory in 1992, and the first plug and play, modular acoustic/midi pickup system, the Ghost in 2003.
The result is an outstanding reputation for quality and rapid acceptance by guitar players. Dave's commitment has never waned: "I envisioned a people-and service-orientated company that can turn on a dime and respond to our customers' needs. Week after week, customers write us unsolicited letters and emails letting us know these are the first products that they've ever bought that actually do what they promise to do. Imagine that!"
Other brands from the Graph Tech stable include Nubone precision engineered nuts and saddles, ResoMax harmonic bridge system, Ghost modular pickup systems, Chops PrePlay professional hand care, Tusq pics and the new innovative Ratio tuned machine heads.
Ratio machine heads have tuned gear ratios to each string position so that every string responds the same to any tuning adjustment. You get fine tuning on the thicker core strings and coarser tuning on the thinner core; anywhere from 12:1 to 39:1 gear ratio. One turn is about one tone change on all strings, making tuning, retuning and open tunings easier, quicker and more intuitive.
"We are delighted to be working alongside such a iconic brand," says JHS Managing Director Dennis Drumm. "Graph Tech is well known around the world as one of the premier manufacturers of professional guitar parts and accessories and we look forward to taking the brand forward in the UK.”
