What happens when a posse of British guitar makers get together to promote British guitar making? Dave Burrluck went to find out

This weekend could well go down in the annals of history for many contradictory reasons. Firstly it was the finest gathering of mainly British makers and distributors possibly ever witnessed. Secondly the event was the most shambolic affair I've attended in the last eight years; the amount of space was ridiculously small but the amount of public interest incredibly large. The result: absolute bedlam with demos going on on every stand at once, and I'm talking loud, distorted HM soloing resulting in much shouting and exhibitors looking worn and weary.

It was UKG Projects who presented the event, based in two small rooms at the enormous Barbican Centre. The event spanned two and a bit days – Friday evening through to Sunday – with the public given pride of place to view the show on the Saturday and Sunday. I arrived promptly on the Saturday morning, notebook at the ready, so this is very much a punters view – apologies to anyone I missed due to the sheer bulk of public wanting to see the goodies on show.

The acoustic room seemed as good a place as any to start and after jumping the queue claiming press status I was in. Chris Eccleshall was huddled up in a corner with six or so electrics on show (so much for the acoustic room). Apart from his typically high standard Strats and Teles Chris had news of some new 'hi-tech' guitars and basses with new body shapes and headless necks which he'll be launching in the near future. Pat Townshend from Staccato will be providing the hardware. Watch this space.

Mr Pickup – Kent Armstrong – had a good stand offering pickup rewinds on the spot plus the chance to order or buy pickups or active circuits to upgrade your axe. This little active package retails for £35 and features a pre-amp, treble and bass cut/boost, pan-pot and master volume plus full fitting instructions.

A couple of Royal guitars were lurking nearby; a beautiful acoustic 12-string full of inlay and a price around £800, plus a beige TV copy looking well vintage for £250.

Brynn Hiscox should be very familiar to IM readers for his wooden roundback acoustics but has now temporarily shelved production of these in favour of a composite construction guitar case, the Liteflite. Featuring a glass fibre outer shell plus a soft polyurethane interior, the case is extremely robust (you can jump on it etc) and more importantly light and cheap. A flight case that doesn't need a van to transport it has got to be good, plus the fact that they'll be retailing in various sizes at £58.75.

I said that space was tight but Albion Strings take the biscuit – their 'stand' was in a Hiscox case! Hailing from Derby their range of strings are handmade on the old type string lathe. Due to the resulting small overheads the range of strings; acoustic, electric guitar and bass plus double ball enders are a quid or so cheaper than anything else of this quality. Judging by the sample sets I'm trying on guitar and bass at the moment they seem excellent. JD, Wilkes, Staccato and Hiscox are among the makers already using Albion strings to some degree.

C. F. Martin acoustics took the trouble of flying over Chris Martin from the legendary American company to talk about the new J40MAM size acoustic but with a Dreadnought depth. A top of the line instrument this, retailing around £1500. David Becker, a muso from LA also came over especially to demo the range.

Of the smaller names there were plenty, Aram guitars with some strange shaped acoustics, Robin Greenwood with a nice electric left-handed bass but otherwise acoustic stand, and for the traditionalist – Woodlark Lutes. Wilderness Productions featured Kif Wood's radical designed acoustics while Nigel Thornbory's more traditional shapes were of a typically high standard.

As I left the 'acoustic' room the line of chaps and chapesses waiting to gain entrance was already getting rather long and it was only lunch-time. I found the 'electric' room by the line of sullen looking folk waiting to get in.

Still, those nice Kincade chaps from Bristol were still smiling, and had a nice show of their Bristol made acoustic and acoustic/electrics. Of note here was a striking Gibson 175 hollow bodied electric copy with a solid spruce fron and laminated back featuring Schaller's Golden 50's pick-ups. A handmade peach of a guitar retailing for a tidy £711.

Pat Townshend's Staccato stand was small – just enough for a modular necked 12 string plus the new Mg bass. This is a fine looking beast with the characteristic hi-tech appearance featuring a fixed mag-alloy neck and standard controls, but the good news is the retail price, which is £850. At last I sense some widespread commercial success for Pat and his absent partner Chris Jagger who've just moved into new workshops in Norfolk.

IM fan Chris Larkin from the Emerald Isle was full of smiles despite the fact that he can't move into bigger production unless he gains British distribution. However he has fixed up an American outlet for his new shaped electric with typically exotic timber construction.

I literally tripped over the Wal stand; more accurately over a double necked bass in typical Electric Wood excellence. After seeing the price tag (£1675), I checked it for boot marks and ran like hell!

But things were a bit crowded for comfort and the only escape was the Bass Centre and Ashley Pangbourne stand. Barry Moorhouse from the BC was going nuts over the Hipshot Dtuner (£45) which can be fitted to most basses and with a flick of a lever will detune your bottom E to D. Ashley had a cold, he also had his first production Carbon Graphite necked bass. Two models will be available, the Warlord Standard at £895 and the Warlord Custom at £995. Featuring all of the Pangborn trademarks the Graphite neck bass looks very interesting indeed.

On the subject of Carbon Graphite necks Vigier were busy showing off their French axes but the big news here is the Europa guitar with a bolt-on CG neck retailing for £395. Replacement necks for most bolt-on guitars and basses will be selling for £160. That, dear friends, is cheap. If these Europa necks are as good as they look they will undoubtedly clean up!

Overwater had a relatively large stand showing off the new addition to the family, the new style active guitar. With a price base of £750 this guitar is offered with a Kahler Flyer or non-trem bridge with all the typically fine timbers and versatile electronics. Also Chris May has altered the shape of some of his basses to offer a "smaller bass for smaller people". A little more for the slapper actually with more room at the base of the fingerboard and less bottom horn.

Egypt guitars travelled across the border from the wilds of Glasgow with a fine range of instruments, all electric. Their economy range starts from around £250 for a mahogany based instrument with matt finish while between £500-£600 you'll get the full treatment – off set shapes and headstocks, exotic timber body facing and even 'graphic' finishes. With a fine eye for style these lads should have a great future.

That extremely nice Jerry Bix fellow from Devon had a stand which belied his status – nonetheless it was packed with musos wanting a go on his new Ptera range of guitars. Starting from £355 up to £495 this Strat-like beast looked good and still offers the customer full custom requirements.

The Musimex stand housed Steinberger, TC Electronics and Manson. The new Manson Hawk was on show for £750 with Kahler trem, Kent Armstrong's Rainbow PU's and fine Burr maple facing. Also a new 'Stratish' shaped thang to be known as the 'Condor' was on view.

Fingerbone guitars hail from the same neck of the woods as Manson – in fact their old workshop. Made by Paul Richardson the instruments feature the 'radical' design element of bolt-on necks, and high quality flame maple neck timber more synonymous with a violin.

Allbang and Strummit had a fine display of the increasingly popular Hamer guitars. Certainly one of my favourite makes (despite the price) the 'Steve Stevens' and the 'Blitz' shapes seem to be doing the best. News on this front is that Hamer will be re-introducing the Special (as used by Gary Moore) solely due to pressure from the UK. It's also interesting to note that as far as customers go it's the Floyd Rose trem system that's the best. Also on the stand were a few Dobros once again available in the UK with prices beginning around £550.

Dixies Music had the Wilkes range on show with the new 'Savoy' bass, a slimmer more contoured version of their standard shape. Also the not quite so new 'Answer' sliding pickup guitar deserves some attention retailing at £494. You'll also be pleased to know that Rockman power supplies are once again available from this source.

By now (around 2.30 pm on the Saturday) this room was packed, and it took a vast physical effort to get out. However while the show may have been too small cramped, noisy and lacking in organisation most of the exhibitors I spoke to said it was very worthwhile.

I wandered off into the evening so dazed and confused that I forgot to get off my train at the right stop. Knackered? You bet.