PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Glasgow, Scotland Thurs, July 9th 2020
Whole lotta guitars to give away
What’s the story?
From July to September 2020, Glasgow-based social enterprise 12 Guitars will be giving away 12 guitars to 12 individuals or organisations in Scotland and beyond. Although our primary focus is on enabling young people to access guitars and tuition, we are broadening our focus for this campaign to cover all ages. The guitars will be a mix of types and styles and will include acoustic guitars, classical guitars, electric guitars and bass guitars
Making it happen
Gerry Thorogood, Co-Founder of 12 Guitars explained “12 guitars will be selected from our instrument library. Some will be brand new guitars and some will be guitars repaired, refurbished or improved by our Technical Guru, Ken
Morton of Morton Guitars. All guitars will have a new set of Rotosound Strings fitted courtesy of our new sponsor
Rotosound. We will be making a short film for each guitar, checking it over and preparing it for use and will film the handover of each guitar to the individual recipient or organisation and cover the background to the individual’s own desire to play guitar ”.
Identifying Recipients
We will be working across the community with the Third Sector and with our partners to identify individuals and organisations that will benefit from receiving a guitar. We are aiming to find people from different backgrounds and locations and to get a guitar into their hands and get them playing as soon as possible. If they need tuition, we will provide this to get them started. We will make sure that we cover different locations in Scotland and perhaps a few that are further afield too.
“We have seen the positive effect that guitar playing can have on people of all ages, building confidence, improving communication and teamwork skills and helping people de-stress from everyday life. We want to use this campaign to build on the success of our first year and we look forward to enabling a whole lotta new guitar players” - Steve
Plummer Co-Founder of 12 Guitars
If you want to tell 12 Guitars about a deserving individual or organisation you would like to put forward, you can send an email to [email protected] or use the contact form on the website www.12guitars.org
About 12 Guitars
12 Guitars is a social enterprise formed in 2019 in Glasgow by Gerry Thorogood and Steve Plummer. We make guitar playing accessible to young people free at the point use. We have engaged over 200 hundred young people since our formation and have given away or loaned dozens of guitars. We have converted a double-decker London bus into a practice and recording studio, learning space, meeting place and guitar tech workshop. We are based in the Glasgow Caring City Warehouse at 249 Govan Rd, close to the BBC, The SSE Hydro and The Science Centre.
Website: www.12guitars.org
Facebook: @12GuitarsRock
Contact: Gerry Thorogood Email: [email protected] M:07711 706880
About Rotosound
Started in 1958 by James How, an engineer who made strings for his own instruments, Rotosound became known around the world for its superior quality products and famous endorsees such as Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Queen to name just a few. The Who's John Entwistle started a long partnership with James and helped develop the Swing Bass roundwound strings which have become the industry standard. Gathering the most prominent artists over the following decades from Jaco Pastorius to The Edge, Oasis to Guthrie Govan, Rotosound has been the go-to string for every music generation. About Morton Guitars
Morton Guitars' founder, Ken Morton says, "I’ve been playing guitars since the early 70s and many of the hundreds of guitars I’ve owned and played were built in the 50s , 60s and 70s. I have been playing, building, repairing, upgrading, buying and selling electric, acoustic and bass guitars for most my life. I know a thing or two about what guitars were like back then, what made them great and how they are built today. At Morton guitars we specialise in taking old, broken, unloved and un-played guitars and bringing them back to life so they play really well for someone new to cherish and make music on them again. We also build our own range of electric guitars, some of which are owned and played by top performing and recording guitar players around the world. We just love everything about guitars!
ENDS.