We are open with reduced hours on Bank Holiday Monday (11-17) We will be open as normal (10-17.30) from Tuesday 27th August!
The Forsyths Blog
August 17, 2024
First and Finest: Faith's Flagship Guitar
If you've been following along with our social media, you may have seen us promoting an offer from Faith Guitars. (If not, why not? ;) Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for all our latest updates!) This year marks 22 years of Faith Guitars and to celebrate you can get 10% off their flagship model the Faith FV Natural Venus, their #FirstandFinest! Faith's Natural series have Engelmann Spruce tops with Mahogany back and sides, with Rosewood bindings. These all solid woods give a balanced tone overall, perfect for blending with a group of other instruments. "Visualising this as a frequency curve, it would be shaped like a frown: lower on the bass, rising through the middle and dipping once again at the top end. This tonal character means that the notes blend together well and therefore is ideal for strumming and accompaniment purposes, and when recorded, it sits comfortably in a mix." ~ Alex Mew Fitted with a Fishman Ink3 pickup and including a premium hard case, these guitars are ready to go for any gigging musician!
July 6, 2024
Set-up a violin with us
All of our instruments get set-up upon arrival with us, this is to ensure they're in perfect condition when you take them home. My name is Frances, I work in the Instrument Department here at Forsyth and in this post I'll take you through the process of setting up a Stentor Student Violin so you can see exactly what's involved! The violins arrive with bags covering their cases to ensure they arrive in pristine condition. So the first step is to unwrap them! Opening up the case reveals the violin, which is carefully padded to protect it during delivery. This is then removed so I can begin inspecting the violin. The first job is to have a peak through on of the f holes and make sure the soundpost is still standing. You can just see it below, to the left of the bridge inside the f hole closest to the camera. The soundpost rarely falls in delivery, but it's always a good idea to check just in case! Next up I check the bridge is in order, starting by moving it into the correct position. On this one the bridge was slightly to far to the...
July 4, 2024
June Tunes: last months highlights!
We kicked off the summer season with a busy month of events this June. From workshops to large scale concerts featuring over 40 performers! See all upcoming events here On the 5th June we welcomed Paul Harris as part of his 'How to Sight Read' book tour. His books are available to buy here --- We welcomed Benjamin Frith and Heidi Rolfe back for another wonderful concert of piano duets --- If you didn't get enough jazz from the manchester jazz festival, then we hosted an evening of jazz with the Edward Harris-Brown Trio --- We once again welcomed Susan Bettany for another of her wonderful piano workshops --- We finished the month with a spectacular concert featuring the works of Australian composer Wendy Hiscocks and over 40 students from Chethams school --- Our social media was also busy last month! Here's Olly showing off his new Squier Bass VI he bought from us --- James had fun with a KNA banjo pickup --- The instrument department asked people on our social media platforms to guess what wood this...
June 6, 2024
May Roundup
May was a busy month for music, here at Forsyth and across Manchester! From the Manchester Jazz Festival to the North West Guitar Show, read on to see what we got up to in May We're always up to something, keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram for the most up to date info! --- It wouldn't be May in Manchester without the Manchester Jazz Festival and the 17th-26th May saw the return of Manchester's longest running music festival. Once again we supplied pianos for the piano trail. Which this year saw 14 pianos placed around the city (including our usual street piano outside the shop!) It was amazing to see so many entries for the competition to find Manchester's best 'Street Pianist', all you had to do was post a video on social media of you playing one of the street pianos. The judges are still deciding on the winner so stay tuned... --- Alongside the piano trail we also hosted one of the performances as part of the festival. On the 24th May we were joined by legendary Jazz Pianist Julian Joseph for a fantastic evening of...
Manchester Jazz Festival Piano Trail 18 April to 26 May 2024 (Download your own copy of the leaflet here.) We're proud to be teaming up with Manchester Jazz Festival for a third year bringing the joy of street pianos to venues far and wide across Manchester for everyone to enjoy. This year there will be 14 pianos across the city including 'new comers' Aviva Studios (home of Factory International) and Trafford Palazzo near the Trafford Centre. Old Favourites include the Yamaha grand pianos at Harvey Nichols and the Corn Exchange as well as the iconic street pianos at Piccadilly and Victoria Stations. The pianos will be appearing over the next few days ready for the launch on Thursday at Manchester Piccadilly Station from 12.30 where performers from Chethams School of music will be starting us off with some jazz ensemble music. There are lots of prizes to be won including a Yamaha digital piano - for details on how to enter etc visit:- https://manchesterjazz.com/mjf2024-piano-trail/ Thank you to Yamaha Music with helping to sponsor the...
April 5, 2024
A Spring Summary!
The weather has been warming up, and Spring has sprung into Forsyths! Carry on reading to see what we got up to in March --- Through Sickness and HealthA Charity Concert for Manchester Mind On the 22nd March we hosted "Through Sickness and Health," a charity concert supporting Manchester Mind. This unique event intertwined music, dance, and visual art to explore the journey from mental illness to mental health. Keep up to date with upcoming events here --- Yamaha Piano Day at Forsyths We had a wonderful day on the 23rd March, featuring all things Yamaha Piano! Yamaha's expert demonstrators and specialist piano staff were on hand throughout the day to answer questions, and we had two dedicated workshops too! --- We were delighted that the episode of SalvageHunters filmed in Forsyths last year aired on the 13th March on Quest! It was an interesting watch - it's amazing what old oddities a shop can accumulate over 166 years of history! --- The wonderful Stephen Campbell once again worked his magic in our window ---...