PI Guitars are made at the Nailsworth Community Workshop – a very special place started by Gavin Pond and Pam Brown in 2009.
A wide range of activities are supported and taught at the workshop – woodwork classes for different groups of children and huge support for people of all ages with life struggles and learning difficulties.
In addition to the formal classes, Gavin teaches groups of volunteers to make PI Guitars for charity. One of the main roles of the PI Guitars project is to provide a supportive environment for people facing a range of challenges and to help build confidence through practical creative activities.
The instruments are made from recycled and locally sourced wood and finished with the highest quality hardware – Kluson or Gotoh Tuners and hand wound Bare Knuckle pickups. They are typically sponsored by local businesses and donated to music colleges and charities. We also sell instruments at major UK Guitar Shows.
We recently built a guitar in 12 hours for Billy Bragg to play at an evening concert at the Nailsworth Subscription Rooms the same day. It was a tremendous success and received considerable local media coverage. Here I am holding the guitar we built in the workshop with Billy Bragg after the show.
The Nailsworth Community Workshop web site can be viewed here
