About The North American Guitar
The North American Guitar is a family run business started by entrepreneur and keen blues guitarist Robert J Montague and his son Benjamin Montague back in 2010 in London, England.
With an incredible passion for everything that is the steel-string guitar and, with music running through the veins of their family, their goal with The North American Guitar has always been to create the world’s No.1 destination for the finest custom guitars, and to provide the very best customer experience both in-store and online.
Their focus has always been on providing their customers with more than just an inspiring new instrument, offering educational content on all their brands, free online music tuition via their weekly news letters, exclusive live showroom events, artist interviews & sessions and outstanding world wide customer service.
“Our goal has always been to offer our customers the very best product at the best possible price point, and to introduce them to guitar brands and luthiers away from the mainstream.” - Ben Montague – CEO
“In a short space of time The North American Guitar has become the UK’s foremost authority on custom-built guitars.” Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Robert Montague - Founder
The North American Guitar was founded by entrepreneur and keen blues guitarist Robert Montague CBE in 2010. Having experienced first-hand the pleasure of owning a bespoke instrument he decided to start a new company to bring the work of the guitar builders of this new Golden Age to wider attention. Before this there was nobody in the UK with the experience and expertise to offer a true bespoke service for discerning players. The North American Guitar was born!
Ben Montague - CEO
Co-owner and company Director Ben Montague has been a vital part of The North American Guitar's growth since it was just an idea over coffee with his father in early 2010. An established singer-songwriter and touring musician in his own right, Ben's love of bespoke guitars has led to him using the work of several prominent luthiers in front of audiences of thousands.
With accolades from BBC Radio 2 including Album (Tales of Flying and Falling) and Single Of The Week (Haunted) and high-profile tours with some of the biggest names in the UK music scene.
Richard Poll - Director of Marketing & Sales
Richard is a trained rock and pop acoustic and electric guitarist, reading music at the University of Chichester and working as a professional musician and guitar tutor before developing a digital marketing career in the professional audio and musical instrument industries which resulted in the global coordination of brand marketing for Chinese microphone manufacturer sE Electronics and British pro audio brands MunroSonic and Aston Microphones.
Kim Sherman - Managing Partner, TNAG Nashville
Kim has been playing guitar since she was 13 and writing songs since she was 16. She grew up on a western Kentucky farm and came to Nashville to be a songwriter. She studied guitar, English Literature, and history at Belmont University, graduating Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English and History. After working for some time in the music and book industries, Kim found herself ‘on the other side of the counter’ at Cotten Music where she had years to work on moving from full introvert to partial extrovert.
Co-owner of the shop for the past twenty-three years, and now Managing Partner at The North American Guitar Nashville, Kim loves her work of matching her customers with instruments that suit them best.
When she’s not at the shop, you will most likely find Kim traipsing about Nashville with her Leica in hand. Kim and her husband Paul share a love of friends, art, good food, music, fountain pens, cycling, and especially their cat, Babette.
Annie Wheeler - Digital Marketing Manager
Luthier Annie Wheeler studied Guitar Building at London's South Thames College before becoming Assistant Luthier to TNAG acoustic roster member Rory Dowling aka Taran Guitars. Annie's in-depth knowledge of lutherie and the building process means you'll often find her in our acoustic section appreciating the subtleties of bracing, line and voicing.
Peter Calvert - Content Manager
Peter started playing the guitar at the age of 14 and went on to study Creative Music Technology at Falmouth University where he specialised in music production and sound design.
Peter is The North American Guitars in-house camera & sound-man. You will find him editing our demo videos and running our youtube page.
Tyler Davis - Sales Assistant, TNAG Nashville
Tyler has been playing music for most of his life, and has a deep love for all American roots music, especially the folk and mountain music from the early 20th century. He is a lover of history and old Gibson guitars, with a firm belief that old things are imbued with the stories of their previous companions. He loves writing songs, and playing folk music from Leadbelly to Bob Dylan.
Tyler was born and raised in Visalia California, a small central valley town surrounded by the ghosts of the dust bowl, and moved to Nashville with his wife Meghan in 2018. They are expecting their first child in early 2020.
You’ll usually find Tyler in the back of the shop restringing guitars or chatting with customers about music and their guitar collections.