How did you get into guitar?
“I played classical piano from when I was
six years old, then when I went to high
school I wanted to learn guitar, as it was
much cooler! I started with a 3/4-size
nylon-string acoustic from Argos and a
couple of years later, got my first Squier, a
10-watt SoundKing amp and I was away.
When I was 18, I got my first ‘proper’ setup
- Gibson Les Paul Classic in a cherry ’burst
and Marshall AVT150 head with 4x12.
I was (and still am) a huge GN’R fan,
so as far as I was concerned at the time,
there was no other guitar setup!”
When did you first start building?
“Growing up, I helped my dad renovate
three different houses and, living in the
countryside, me and my friends would
always be building something, whether
it be an off-road go-kart, trebuchet or a
treehouse. I went through school doing well
in anything to do with practical problem-
solving, eventually studying Aviation
Engineering at university and working for
an engineering company after that. All the
way through, I was playing in bands and
hanging out with musicians. Since being
involved in Chapman Guitars in around
2012, I’ve learned a whole lot about guitar
building and it’s been fun to apply the
knowledge I’ve learnt elsewhere to music,
my real passion.”What was the moment you realised you had
a viable business on your hands?
“When I joined, Lee [Anderton] and Rob
[Chapman] had done an awesome job in
setting up the marketing and supply model.
It was really when we took Chapman to
NAMM in 2014 and started getting interest
from retailers outside the UK and Europe
that things started getting really exciting.
A part of my role has been building this
retailer base. After the full line-up refresh
in 2017, things got even more exciting,with some great attention on the company.
You can now walk into a guitar shop and
buy a Chapman in around 25 countries
worldwide – crazy!”Did you have any investors or grants to
help you establish yourself?
“One of my favourite things about
Chapman is that we’ve been completely
self-sufficient, with no outside investment.
Andertons were amazing in supporting us
with administration help in the early years.
We’ve reinvested a lot along the way into
building the brand and our marketing, all
with a long-term view.”At what point did you feel like you ‘nailed’
your branding?
“We refreshed the whole Chapman line-up
in 2017 based on feedback from fans and
customers, debuting at Winter NAMM,
along with a new website and rebrand.
We went through hundreds of logo/colour
iterations until we narrowed it down to
one that finally clicked. For me, it brought
together everything about what we’d done
so far, without being a drastic change.”What’s your proudest moment to date?
“I’ve mentioned it a couple of times already,
but announcing a full new line-up, rebrand
and website in early 2017 was a huge
challenge but really rewarding when we
pulled it off. The year ahead of the launch
was working very long days, seven-day
weeks in the old Chapman office and
storage facility – my flat! It’s great to think
back to that time and what the challenges
were, to where we are now.”What do you think are the biggest
challenges and opportunities for
the guitar industry in 2019?
“I’m definitely not the first person to say
that the internet has changed everything,
particularly with how fast things move.
I feel like there’s still real opportunities for
collaboration between different companies
and with artists in ways that haven’t been
explored yet. For me, that’s one of the most
exciting parts of the times we’re in.”So what’s next?
“We have some very cool releases on the
horizon – stay tuned! I’m particularly
excited about the new Ghost Fret Pro
Exotic Wood Special Run coming up.”Find out more at chapmanguitars.co.ukINDUSTRY INSIDER
CHAPMAN GUITARS
INTERVIEW JOSH GARDNER
Chapman Guitars’ innovative ‘collaborative design’ approach has seen
the UK company become one of the guitar world’s biggest recent success
stories. Chapman’s co-owner Matt Hornby tells us more...
INDUSTRY INSIDER
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