KDH

Week ending 18 September 2026

In the headlines

• Chapman changes hands
• Tone King buys a factory

At the desk

• Chapman Guitars has new owners and a new country. It is now majority-owned by Brian Van Zwirtering of the European distributor Musifax and based in the Netherlands, after the UK company, co-owned by Lee Anderton and Rob Chapman, was struck off in May 2025.
• The collaborative design process is gone and the lineup is down to Strat and Tele shapes. Fender are no doubt going to 'open a conversation' about that."

Said

• 0:26 “It's been over two years since I last made a dedicated video discussing Chapman Guitars, and in that time a lot has changed. The biggest though being that the ownership has changed.”
• 7:47 “a YouTuber guitar brand is no different from a regular guitar brand. It's only the advertising bit that's done on YouTube that's the difference.”