EdwardMarlowe Posted July 21 Posted July 21 https://www.guitarworld.com/music-industry/john-hornby-skewes-to-dissolve Big news. I hope somebody can at least save some of the brands. Vintage deserves to live on. As would Fret King if they'd do left handers...
Skinnyman Posted July 21 Posted July 21 Sad news indeed - I read somewhere that it was JHS’s wish that the company be wound up when he passed. Someone is bound to buy Vintage guitars - or at least , I hope so. Their reputation and history has to be worth something in today’s crowded market 1
EdwardMarlowe Posted 3 hours ago Author Posted 3 hours ago On 21/07/2025 at 23:40, Skinnyman said: Sad news indeed - I read somewhere that it was JHS’s wish that the company be wound up when he passed. Someone is bound to buy Vintage guitars - or at least , I hope so. Their reputation and history has to be worth something in today’s crowded market I'm halfway hoping somebody like Thomann would buy the brand and run it in the same way as Harley Benton. HB's higher end stuff these days seems to be edging in the direction of very modern specs and designs. If that's how they want to really evolve the brand, it could be a strategy to buy Vintage and use that as a different project to do something similar - high quality, wholesale type prices direct - with a much more, eh... vintage spec and appearance. Working with care and the right factories, there's already an established market for Vintage which has some crossover with HB, but not entirely. The other option might be for them to take on Vintage with a perspective of making it all about the "Proshop" guitars. Set up and run properly, they could be a serious, sub £1,000 alternative to the Fender Modshop. Last I specced a 50s style Strat on the modshop out of curiosity, it was coming out at around £1800, which seems fairly baseline (and a little too close to some of the Custom Shop prices for my tastes). I'm told that Vintage's Proshop baseline is about £600. They could offer a lot for that with Thomann behind them. It's a thought, anyhow. Vintage are certainly still working for now as a going concern - they still have the pedals on the way, so it certainly looks like they've not given up on finding a buyer.
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