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Rig of the week 08.2.10

Time for an electro -acoustic set-up!

This week's guitar is a GGCE 50 from lost Canadian maker Garrison. This brand shot to fame with the truly innovative constructive style of the 'Griffith's bracing system'. Rather than dwelling on the traditional bracing pattern which has been kept relatively unchanged in many decades of production Garrison employ a glass fibre structure to bond the top, back and sides together. The benefits are that the wood is free to resonate much more fully compared to a traditionally braced instrument given that they need to use a lot less glue to bond the constituent parts. The company rose to provenance and were bought out by Gibson Guitars, sadly they decided to cease production! This is one of the last two we have left and sounds gorgeous. It's all solid construction with a hard case and an awesome Fishman Prefix Pro pickup and pre-amp. The body is a very comfortable, slim shape designed for the gigging performer.


For the Amp we are going for a specialist acoustic amp from Fishman. It's the loudbox 100 model and offers superb tone and features in a small and easily movable package. It has twin channels with extra input's for backing tracks and drum machines etc.

To complete the rig we have decided to include the LR Bagg's Venue DI pedal. It's a high quality pre-amp along the lines of the Para DI pedal but with the added feature's of a built in chromatic tuner, a boost function for solo's in a rugged but light chassis. The Venue also comes with a little padded carry bag too. This is a very handy pedal to have for the occasion when it's not possible or impractical to use your own amp, at least with this product you can guarantee an awesome signal to send to the desk. Very handy for recording too!

Garrison GGC50-CE - £829 (Was £1099!)
Fishman Loudbox 100 - £599
LR Bagg's Venue DI - £299
Total Normal price - £1727
Deal Price - £1584.99

Take It Away - 0% Finance

The fantastic Take it Away interest free finance is still available on all goods between £222.50 and £2,000. This is a great way to get that PRS you've always wanted or finally get your dream Strat!

Subject to a credit check, you could be taking your dream guitar home today!

VAT Update - Price Freeze on stock items till January 31st!

We have made the decision to keep all our stock prices the same until January the 31st despite the increase in VAT from 15 to 17.5%. Our web prices will reflect the new VAT rate but all orders placed WILL be processed at the old price. We always confirm the final price via phone or email before taking payment in case of additional shipping charges. For orders of items that are out of stock or from January 31st they will be at the new VAT rate.

Sale starts December the 27th!

We are offering great discounts with many items at 30-50% of the original price!

Ibanez RG2550MZ Was £959 Sale £879 - Sold!
Ibanez RG1570 Was £739 Sale £689
Ibanez RG7321 Was £389 Sale £319
Jackson DK2 Was £429 Sale £379
Jackson RX10D Was £429 Sale £349
Jackson JS30 Was £329 Sale £289
Jackson JS30 Kelly Was £329 Sale £289
Jackson JS30DK Was £329 Sale £289
Dean Razorback Was £459 Sale £369.99
Dean Z79 Was £399 Sale £349.99
Dean Vendetta Floyd Camo Was £299 Sale £209.99
Aria Diamond Electric Was £199 Sale £159
Aria Mac35 Metallic Purple Was £219 Sale £149.99
PRS Hollowbody Soapbar SE Was £519.99 Now £469
PRS USA Swamp Ash Special was £1799 Sale £1719
PRS USA Johnny Hilland Was £1699 Sale £1649
PRS USA Custom 22 DCSB Was £1899 Sale £1729
PRS USA Starla Was £1499 Sale £1299
Framus Hollywood Custom Was £1699 Sale £1399
Framus Diablo Pro Was £999 Sale £899
Warwick Streamer LX 5 LTD Edition Was £1799 Sale £1679
Warwick $$ 5 String Was £1799 Sale £1049
Rockbass Fretless 4 String Was £379.99 Sale £329.99
Sandberg Bullet Booster Was £1299 Sale £999
Garrison G4CE Was £649.99 Sale £579
Vintage V880 £179 Sale £139
Freshman Starter Acoustic kits Was £139 Sale £119
Line 6 Flextone III Plus Was £349 Sale £319
Line 6 Flextone III XL Was £399 Sale £359
Yamaha TRB 5 II Was £499 Sale £449 - Sold!

Pedal Sale!

We're clearning all of our ex demo pedals, with savings of up to 55%! Click the wah pedal for more information.

Boss SL20 Slicer: Was £189 now £159.99
Dunlop EVH95 Wah: Was £219.99 now £179.99
Dunlop SW95 Wah/Distortion: Was £210 now £149.99
Dytone Boombastic: Was £169 now £119.99
Dytone Music Dive: Was £179 now £109
Ibanez Tube King: Was £159 now £119.99
Ibanez SB7 Synth Bass: Was £79 now £49
Line 6 Otto Filter Autowah: Was £89 now £59
Line 6 Space Chorus: Was £89 now £59
Line 6 Constrictor Compressor: Was £89 now £59
MXR Blow Torch Bass Distortion: Was £159 now £99
Seymour Duncan Lava Box: Was £110 now £49
Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter- Was £179 now £115
Trex Dr Swamp: Was £145 now £109
Trex Bloody Mary: Was £149 now £109

Feature on Michael Sanden

We are an official Michael Sanden Tanglewood acoustic's dealer which adds to the already extensive range of quality acoustics we offer. The reviews for this range of new guitars have been fantastic and we are very proud to have them in store. Guitarist magazine recently awarded the Sanden Series the award for best electro acoustic in the world over £500!

So who is Michael Sanden? Well he happens to be probably Sweden's finest luthier, with over 20 years experience. He builds 2-3 guitars per month and they normally sell for £3-5000. By teaming up with Tanglewood, the unique features of his approach are now available to a wider audience. More details about Michael sanden are here

Check out the Tanglewood Master series guitars by Michael Sanden in our Acoustic guitars section on the product pages.

Massive range of Fender Guitars In stock!

We always strive to have the best range of stock in Reading and we are proud of our Fender selection!

Guitarworks Hughes and Kettner Dealership confirmed!

Guitarworks are exclusive Reading dealers for the full line of Hughes and Kettner's award winning German built guitar amplifiers. These are amongst the best sounding (and looking!!!) amps built in the world today. The Statesman series are particular favourites of ours, they have a real purity of tone which is an absolute joy. We have 6 pieces in stock to demo at any time!

Check out the Warwick and Framus factory

John and Julian's visited the Warwick and Framus factory in Germany a couple of months ago we have uploaded some pictures from our tour here: Warwick tour

This facility is where all the Warwick basses and Framus guitars are made in Germany, there are also some shots of the Framus Museum which was great fun to see. If you are ever in the Saxony area of Germany we would heartily recommend a visit. More info on Warwick basses at www.warwick.de and Framus guitars at www.framus.de

We can offer full custom shop guidance from the training we recieved in Germany to guide any of our customer's who are looking to purchase a custom shop instrument.

Framus Guitars on board!

We have just received our first shipment of Framus Guitars direct from Germany! They represent the electric guitar line from the established bass manufacturer Warwick. John and Julian from the Shop were treated to a factory tour last month (details to come) and were so impressed with the quality of the guitars we signed up for a dealership straight away.

Framus give the customer the ability to spec out every part of their instruments with a full range of options available from the custom shop. If you want to add inlays, different pickups, electronics, alternative woods then it is all possible. Prices on request.

We have a Diablo pro in natural, Diablo custom in blackburst and a Panthera (see above - in yellow amber stain) in stock with each guitar having a special introductory price. We will also be receiving a Hollywood Custom in the next few weeks. Call or visit the shop for more details.

Visual Sounds pedals now in stock

We're delighted to now be stockists of the Visual Sounds range of pedals, including the V2 range and the legendary Route 66 overdrive/compression pedal and Route 808 overdrive pedals. We also have their superb range of volume pedals. You really need to try these out to appreciate how good they are, so pop into the store to do just that.

Guitarworks appointed Freshman Regional Centre

We're proud to announce that Guitarworks has been appointed as one of the exclusive Regional Centres for Freshman Guitars. Freshman guitars have received rave reviews in recent years and an impressive list of endorsees. Regional Centres carry the broadest range of stock and are also deemed to offer the best levels of service - we stock Freshman guitars from £100 up to the fabulous F500 series (right). We also stock Freshman acoustic amps. So if you want to check out these superb guitars, make sure you choose the best place to do so - Guitarworks, Reading.

Julian Mullen Joins The Team!

We at Guitar Works are delighted to announce that our luthier Julian has joined us to work from our Reading store.

Julian will be working in house for 3 regular days a week to provide all of our set ups and repair work. Many of you have already had your instruments serviced by Julian as he has been our repairer since the first day the shop has been open! This move will shorten turnaround times and help us to offer an even better level of service than we have ever offered before!

From this week onwards Julian will be setting up every new guitar that comes into the shop to ensure that all in-stock guitars are at their best for optimum performance and playability. Over the coming weeks he will work his way through all of our guitars in store to eventually have everything in stock showing the benfits of his expertise.

Welcome Julian!

Extended Finance deals now available

We're pleased to also announce that we can now offer extended term Finance to our customers buying in-store. Payments can be split from 12 to 60 months, and interest free is available on some products. The procedure is fast and easy - just bring along a proof of ID such as a Driving Licence or Passport, and a recent utility bill or bank statement with your address on it. In the week, we can process your application within 20 mins.

Guitarworks - officially now one of the largest PRS dealers in the UK

We've always been big fans of PRS guitars, and over the last 2 years, we have built a great selection of PRS guitars. Today, we are officially one of the largest PRS dealers in the UK. We have a dedicated room where we have approximately 30 US models available at all times, plus a great selection of Korean guitars. All our guitars are kept in pristine condition. We also specialise in custom and rare guitars, so if you are after a very special guitar, give us a call or better still, pop in to see us.

Major lines

On the product pages, you'll find details on the major lines we stock:
Electric Guitars: Fender, PRS, Rickenbacker, Ibanez, ESP, Dean, Jackson, Blade, Godin, Gretsch, Framus, Vintage, Yamaha, Epiphone, Squier, Peerless
Acoustic Guitars: Taylor, Tanglewood, Garrison, Freshman, Fender, Norman, Yamaha, Ibanez,
Classical guitars: Santos Martinez, Manuel Rodriguez, La Patrie, Yamaha
Bass Guitars: Warwick, Sandberg, Ibanez, Yamaha, Fender, Squier
Amplifiers: Vox, Fender, Blackstar, Hughes & Kettner, THD, Framus, Laney, Line 6, Randall, Warwick, Ashdown, Hartke, AER, Schertler, Roland, PJB, Framus
Pedals/effects: Boss, Line 6, Digitech, DyTone, T-Rex, Ibanez, Dunlop, Morley, MXR,Visual Sounds, Blackstar