About Hatters

Hi I’m Josh, but you can call me the Hatter. Having done woodwork since an early age with my father and played instruments for over fifteen years some might say it was only inevitable that I would one day make them. Ever since I started playing guitar, I have always tinkered with them, always insuring that they played to their fullest potential. Finally when I got to Nexus (a Christian music academy in Coventry) no one could afford to get their instruments professionally fixed, I accepted the challenge and after lots of reading, I brought some tools, and was instantly hooked. In the following months I de-fretted a bass, fixed a headstock and completed a complete re-build. I had finally found a link between two of my greatest passions, music and woodwork. 

After nexus I attended London Metropolitan University where I completed a degree in musical instruments (Bsc Hons) where I specialised in acoustic guitars. The degree focused on the repair and building of acoustical stringed instruments, we also studied the physics of the instruments. This enhanced and extended my basic knowledge, dispelling myths and teaching me the correct methods for more in depth repairs. During the course I also built several guitars, a “backpacker” travel guitar, a Parlour guitar and an OM.

My path was set; I was determined to be a Luthier, ever since university I have slowly been setting up Hatters Instruments, a repair and custom build shop with a difference. Earlier this year I quit my regular day job and took Hatters full time. I now have converted the same workshop that I grew up in to be more specialised for musical instrument repair and building.