Seth Baccus Guitars

Last Issue, We Reviewed One Of Seth’S Nautilus Guitars And Were So Impressed We Decided It Was High Time We Headed Off To Cornwall To Meet The Man Himself…

- David Mead

Seth Baccus built his first guitar in 2004, but by that time, he’d already been part of the guitar industry for seven years, working in Manson’s guitar shop. His stepfather is master luthier Andy Manson and so Seth’s formative years were set against the background hum of crafting guitars – it’s no surprise, then, he has ended up in his own dedicated facility near Falmouth in Cornwall, turning out some world-class instruments.

If you caught our review last issue, you’ll have seen we awarded his Nautilus Classic a Guitarist Choice badge, with a score of nine out of 10. It was well deserved, too; the instrument was fabulous in every respect. We paid Seth a visit to find out more about what led him to make instruments under his own name, and discover more about his creative process.

When did the guitar-building bug bite?

“I’d been doing one day a week with Andy while I was at college, and was making the tea, sweeping the floor and generally getting in the way. I always fancied the idea of building a guitar – for myself, predominantly – and, because we used to have to work Saturdays in the shop, my friend and I used to take Fridays off and go out to Hugh Manson’s workshop. He would let us have free rein, and we just started putting together guitars for friends, for ourselves – that kind of thing. That’s how it all started. In 2010, I moved to Portugal with my mum and Andy, and we set up a new workshop there. I worked for myself, but next to Andy, for the next eight and a half years. I did my own thing, designing my own range of electrics.”

Working next to someone who was responsible for some very fine acoustic guitars, were you ever tempted to go down the acoustic route?