Welcome to Lighthouse Instruments, a small scale guitar company based in Glasgow, Scotland. I’m Benjamin McGinty, the owner and luthier behind the name. Compared to using my own name in the branding of the guitars I make, I really wanted my guitars to live up to the emotional response they create within their owners.  I wanted to build a company that symbolises hope for players who find solace in music when life feels like a stormy sea. And in doing so, I landed on a name that anyone can relate to from all musical backgrounds and styles.

I take pride in mixing modern and traditional instrument building techniques to create the guitars made. All the timber is prepared by hand with a hand plane to achieve the desired dimensions, all ergonomic accents and aesthetic curves are hand carved with gouges, convex thumb planes and everything is cleaned up with scrapers. In doing so I can connect with the timber, feel how the wood reacts under the tool’s edge and ultimately ensure I build an instrument that resonates with its player as an extension of themselves.

The timber selected comes from small timber yards all over the UK, some specialising in tone wood and other specialising in repurposing far older timber with some beautiful history. In a similar theme I’ve loved discovering boutique electronics winders who all specialise in different flavours of tone to help make my guitars shine through the mix!

I use social media to share processes and insights to my work with the interested audience to give transparency to my guitars but share my portfolio of a working luthier and the transformative journey a guitar makes from slab to soundboard.

In addition to artisanal instruments I also offer instrument servicing, repairs and modifications.