Specialising in vintage acoustics, handmade classicals with guitars to suit every budget

Fret King Eclat Standard

Nothing like a little spring cleaning to knock away those winter cobwebs and make the house feel sparkly and fresh and the instrument department is no exception. We’ve got a few electric guitars which, through no fault of their own, haven’t shifted and we think it’s time that they stretched their invisible, little guitar legs and moved on to pastures new; i.e. to the loving embrace of one of you fine people. To help facilitate and ease this difficult transition we’ve popped some rock bottom prices on them and will list them as follows:

Give us a call or drop us an email if you want to know any more about any of the instruments.

Rickenbacker 4003 bass

The thing about Rickenbacker (well one of the many curious,  equally endearing and frustrating things about Rickenbacker) is their tendancy to make things in batches. It stands to reason really - nice, efficient way to work, but the annoying thing for us (and, as it turns out a very good thing for you) is that you wait ages (years in this instance) for a particular model to come along and then one does and it sells really quickly (as you knew it would) and you just ask the distributor on the off chance if they have another one available and then they do! So, I know I said we’d be lucky to see another bass any time soon but here another one is, just by the lucky hap that Rosetti recieved a few of them at the same time. Now if only Rickenbacker would hurry up and make a massive batch of jetglo 360s I’d be an even happier man…

However - on the desirable Rickenbacker model front - this is an excellent week as we’ve also just taken delivery of a Marr-tastic jetglo 330. Only one mind!

4003 mapleglo RRP £2079 Forsyth Price £1730
330 jetglo RRP £1936 Forsyth Price £1650

Danelectro DC59O-PSY. Limited Edition hand painted design!

The Danelectro rennaisance continues with a quartet of limited edition models faithfully recreating the double cutaway Danelectro model from 1959 probably most famously seen wielded by Jimmy Page with Led Zeppelin and the black DC59M-BLK is a pretty close copy of that guitar with modified Badass bridge. The other three models are all ‘original specification’ and available in Copper, White (with stylish gold hardware) and the far out, hand-painted psychadelic finish pictured left. All four are only being made in strictly limited numbers and yet still only retail for the extraordinary price of £349 a piece (a Les Paul like Jimmy’s is a tad more I believe) for the plain colours and £429 for the freak-fest pictured. Bargain. Drop us a line or get down here quick before they go.

Fylde Leonardo - the newest model in the range and still great value

It’s the inevitable time of year again when our suppliers start putting their prices up and this year it looks a bit worse than it is because of the VAT increase on top. So anyway, Fylde have just sent us their ammended price list and it takes immediate effect. Actually the increases are very reasonable given the ever increasing costs of timber, lacquer and the rest and they still represent excellent value for money for an English handmade instrument. Do have a look on the Fylde page or come into the shop to try one out.

We’re all well aware, no doubt, that the Goverment raised the level of VAT back to 17.5% on January 1st, but here in the timeless land of Forsyths where everything takes a while to change we’re not raising our prices by a single penny during the month of January! Aren’t we kind. As if that wasn’t enough we have the following extra special price REDUCTIONS:

On ALL British made instruments (Fylde, Lowden, Moon, Atkin, Gordon Smith) we’ll give you an extra 10% off the pre-VAT increase price during January.

On ALL Ukuleles we’ll give you an extra 10% off

On any previously unreduced Spanish Classical guitar we’ll give you a whopping extra 15% off.

These discounts will be applied at the counter in the shop but the final discounted price is as shown on the website (ie - don’t ask us for any more off).

Happy New Year to you all.

Love, the instrument department.

Martin OM-1 all solid wood at a great price

We are good to you and we’re getting a festive feeling so to celebrate the launch of Martins new 1 series we’re doing something extra special and knocking another £50 off our already delightful special offer price meaning you can have a D-1 or OM-1 for £849 or the cutaway, electro DC-1E or OMC-1E for the paltry sum of £1029. As of going to press we have the entire range in stock.

If that weren’t exciting enough we have a whole plethora of other offers available on loads of different things across our entire fretted instrument range. Just click the more tag to see the entire list. (more…)

Rickenbacker 4001C64S in satin maple finish SOLD

The 4001 C64S has SOLD. You’re too late.

Well, it’s been quite a month at Forsyths for getting rare - and now discontinued - Beatles related models from Rickenbacker. Our latest offering for you to salivate over is also the first Ricky bass we’ve managed to get our filthy mitts on and it’s a beauty! This is the only one we will be able to get so once it’s gone, it really is gone. It’s gone!

Here’s what Rickenbacker say about it anyway:
Since the time he obtained his Bass in 1965, Paul McCartney’s original Rickenbacker 4001S bass (actually made in 1964) has “evolved” through Numerous modifications. Using the 4001C64 starting point, the 4001C64S fast forwards to incorporate these changes to replicate his Bass as it finally exists today. Most evident is the reshaped body, zero-fret Fingerboard, pickup type, and tailpiece detail. A satin sealer-only finish helps protect The natural Maple body and neck, as well as the Rosewood fingerboard.

On other Beatles-related, discontinued model Rickenbacker news we have managed to obtain another 325C58  in Jetglo. This, we are reliably informed, is definitely the very last one we will see and, given how quickly the others have gone, it won’t be here long so, if you want it, better get it now.

The Gordon Smith Forsyth Special Edition pictured in all their glory on our piano floor.

SOLD OUT!

Wow, that was quick. We’ll have to start thinking about what to do for next year’s special edition.

We’re pleased to announce the arrival of a unique special edition of guitars made by Gordon Smith especially for Forsyths to our own specification. Each guitar features a double cutaway Brazilian cedar body with a single GSG P90 pickup, white 3-ply scratch-plate, 22-fret rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays and each features a unique colour finish based on Fender finishes of the 1960s with matching headstock fascia. The custom colours are: Shell Pink, Competition Orange, Olympic White, Sonic Blue and Dakota Red. You can see close up pictures of the guitars on the Gordon Smith page. (more…)

Dead On ‘67 in Butterscotch

Those crazy cats at Danelectro have done it again. Another wacky but wonderful design featuring awesome (and eye-melting) colours, groovy swirly scratchplates and retro tremolo along with the famous tone of Danelectro’s lipstick pickups. We’ve just had our first shipment and the cobalt blue one went within a few hours - so hurry up! We’ve also got a Baritone available in limey green. It’s just too cool. See the range on our Danelectro page.

One of the many left handed guitars we have in stock

Lefties Rejoice! Here at Forsyths you’re well catered for with something for every level of ability and musical style. We try and cater for the needs of as many different guitar players as possible and left handers are no exception. We now have a dedicated page for our stock of left-handed acoustic, electric and bass guitars and other instruments we may get in a sinistral configuration (check out the Kala cutaway electro-ukulele!). Of course this isn’t an exhaustive list and there’s more in the store; we can also get most anything you want to order, if it’s made; so if you don’t see what you want just get in touch!