Pete Beer

Blairmore, Argyll, Scotland

Pete Beer builds his guitars in Blairmore, Argyll, in a workshop he raised himself on Scotland's west coast, overlooking the Clyde. His training was long and formal: a two-year lutherie program at Anniesland College in Glasgow beginning in 2001, then a first-class BSc in Musical Instrument Technology at London Metropolitan University, completed in 2006. He set up his first professional workshop in Gloucestershire that same year, built in Somerset for several years, and returned home to Scotland in 2014, where he now lives by the sea with his family and sends guitars out all over the world.

Beer treats guitar making as primarily a musical challenge, working closely with individual players so that each instrument serves their expression rather than a house formula. He offers four standard models, among them the Gaelic-named Cir-Mheala, Ròiseal, and Soirbheas alongside a Torres model, and takes on bespoke commissions including seven-string designs. Soundboards come from his stocks of aged spruce and cedar, with backs and sides in Indian rosewood, African blackwood, cocobolo, or Ceylon satinwood. Living by the sea, growing his own food, and taking a considered approach to materials, he builds slowly and deliberately, one guitar at a time.

The first Pete Beer guitar built for us is on the bench now and expected toward the end of 2026, and we are very much looking forward to introducing his work to players on this side of the Atlantic. In the meantime, our expert team is glad to talk through his models and reserve the incoming instrument ahead of its arrival.