Green Machine

Proudly made in Manchester, Ancoats' guitars mix up retro themes that stand out in the market. We take this third-generation New Islington for a spin

- Dave Burrluck

Ancoats' guitars are made by David Roberts in a converted I shipping container in Pollard Yard, Manchester. "It was an old parking lot or something, but it now has around 130 shipping containers - just a lined empty container with patio doors on the front - and everyone's turned them into their own start-up businesses," David tells us. After attending an evening class at Merton College in London about a decade ago, before relocating to Manchester, David sold his first Ancoats guitar around three years ago and now splits his time as a radiographer and guitar maker 50/50.

The New Islington - which, like the brand, is also named after an area in Manchester - was David's first original design, and the guitar you see here is the recently upgraded version three. It's based on two of David's favourite guitars, a double-cut Gibson Les Paul Junior melded with some Rickenbacker style, but among his main inspirations are Matt Oram's Fidelity Guitars. "I don't think I'd be doing this without him," muses David. "He is kind of a trailblazer, one of the best independent guitar makers around."

It's certainly an original vision, but it's quite a flexible platform, too. For example, the base model comes with an ABM 3250 hardtail through-strung bridge, while ours swaps that for the Göldo DG Shorty vibrato you see here (with a roller saddle bridge) that looks like it came off some 50s European build. And while David is yet another fan of lightweight obeche for the body, here you can swap that for swamp ash. There's also a choice of scale length, fingerboard radius, pickup style and a huge colour choice from The Little Green Paint Company, also based in Manchester.