I first visited Classical Guitar Academy in Derby in the summer of 2021. It was an interesting time because we were in the midst of the pandemic. I was just beginning to explore the possibility of selling my guitars to dealers and took two guitars - a spruce and cypress classical and also a flamenco guitar - to get some feedback and explore some business ideas.
Derby seemed like a cool, vibrant, small city! CGA is located in a building called Banks Mills Studios, that kind of building you get in cities, once an industrial workhouse or something, refurbished into art studios for creatives. Inside the building there was an exciting youthful ambitious creative vibe, and I felt jealous actually, as my town Bedford is conspicuously lacking any art space.
The owner of CGA is Ed Peczek is a pro classical guitarist and a teacher. I believe the academy was born out of Ed’s teaching, however he soon started selling high end guitars too, and now CGA seems to me like a hub for all things classical guitar. Ed described how the guitars just seemed to gradually build up, and indeed one side of the room is lined with guitars and cases. Brilliantly for a guitar dealership, there is a huge art studio style window, and the daylight makes the instruments look all the more enticing. I was delighted when I met Ed; extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the guitar with that fantastic energy which seemed to permeate the whole building. I was not only able to receive some great feedback on my guitars but also compare them to guitars by other British luthiers, such as Oren Myers and I tried Ed’s own guitar by Michael Gee. (I really liked the clarity of that Michael Gee guitar.)
I was also able to broach the topic of an idea I’d been having. The idea, which has somewhat begun to come to fruition now, was a model of guitar called the Recital which I would build to be an affordable option compared to other handmade guitars. It would be a simply built Torres style guitar with Rosewood or maple back/sides, with an elevated fingerboard and unique rosette as features. Ed has some factory guitars has well, and it was quite informative to try those, as the most expensive factory guitars are at a similar price point to my Recital model.
The first Recital guitar is available here: https://www.classicalguitaracademy.co.uk/guitar-shop/guitars/
I forgot to take my own pictures of that guitar, but the second Recital, which is the same except for the rosette, is shown on my website.