About Us

The business was started by Steve Robinson. Steve has had passion for guitars since hearing Mick Ronson play the riff of Ziggy Stardust and wanting to make that noise. Always a keen maker, modder and fixer Steve made his first guitar aged 14 in the school workshop and played in bands at school. For the next few years however study, a corporate career and family would mean that guitars would be just a hobby. 

In 2003, disappointed with the work of South Manchester’s premier guitar tech in and disillusioned with the corporate life, Steve decided to offer his skills to the public and set up a workshop at home. Still wanting to make guitars but lacking the tools to do it from scratch, Steve bought guitar kits to paint and assemble. Pleased with how they turned out, he imported them by the pallet-load from China and sold them though his website and the back pages of Guitar magazine.

Whilst reasonable results could be achieved using car paints, a transparent finish or sunburst wasn’t possible. As it happened, Steve had at one time worked in a paint formulation laboratory so understood finishing. He developed a range of clear nitrocellulose lacquer aerosols that would enable the buyers of his kits to create authentic-looking finishes and this is how the lacquer business began.

Steve retired in April 2025 and Andy “Ozzy” Lister took over. Similarly he had taken a route into guitar that had led him to build his own guitar at school and then started his own business doing guitar repairs after working as a touring guitar tech. He used Steves lacquer as a customer and jumped at the opportunity to take on the business when the time arrived as the idea of using other, inferior brands just wasn’t an option.