DEEP in the heart of Eden a pair of self-styled "monks" are singing the praises of guitars.

The Mad Monks Music Company at Orton is the spiritual home of fret-board and pick - a place well worth a pilgrimage!

From Baby Taylors to Fender guitars in every shade of wine red, cherry and liquorice black they stand there in rows, gleaming proudly in the sun.

The Mad Monks - also known as Pete Shaw and Andy Moseley of Orton Galleries say they "drifted" into music from their background in monastic woodcraft - hence the name.

"I couldn't say when exactly we made the decision to start doing the guitars. There wasn't one particular moment. It just gradually came about," said Pete.

The pair, who used to make heavy oak monastic furniture to order, have been business partners for years.

But when foot-and-mouth hit the county their business took a pummelling.

"We were doing OK. We consistently had a six to eight-week workload. But then foot-and-mouth came and the work went bang. We were getting pretty jaded."

Then, about a year ago, the pair went to the Manchester Guitar show.

"I had no idea how many guitars there were until then," said Pete. "Andy had a lot of guitars at home and his wife said he couldn't bring any more guitars home unless he sold some of them. So we did."

Guitars and instruments, from double bass to tiny mandolins were ordered in and a new venture was born.

But the pair weren't quite prepared to put away their craftsman's tools for good.

Hand-built "hooker" guitars, made in their own workshop, designed to order, now mingle with more established makes of guitar.

Both Mad Monks are music fans Pete packs up his dogs and hits the trail up to Scotland to attend music festivals several times a year while Andy picked up the guitar bug playing in bands as a young man.

They say they want their company to be a place where people come to browse, buy or maybe order a guitar from their own "hooker" range without any pressure.

"We're just a couple of happy chappies. We don't want to do the hard sell."

And, with that, the Mad Monks wander outside their shop, into the Eden sunshine.

April 17, 2003 09:00