Making a difference with custom built guitars. Brute Creations a proven dynamic.

I’m Martin Crook, Designer and Builder of Brute Creations, based in the UK. I’ve been making guitars since 2016, and pedals for the last couple of years.

I’ve always been excited by unconventional guitar players like Glenn Branca, Robert Fripp, Steve Albini of Big Black and Shellac, and Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo of Sonic Youth. My early musical endeavours were heavily influenced by people like that, and when it came to building my first guitar back in 2016, it was that kind of noise that I was after. I wanted to make something aesthetically different from off-the-shelf guitars and that delivered enough sonic sharpness to slice through the mix of the indie noise-rock band I was in at the time. I was attracted to the design and sound of guitars by Travis Bean, Millimetric and Obstructures, which resulted in the Sonic Strife, inspired by the Travis Bean 500, made from Alder, with two high-output P90s and a Telecaster style neck, and I played this in my band for six years.

From that first guitar I’ve continued to use a similar, somewhat Brutalist aesthetic, often marrying traditional offset body curves with angular, straight-edged horns, usually with high output P90s. I’m not arrogant enough to think I’m reinventing the wheel, but in wanting to move away from using the established and well-used design of a deep offset neck pocket, I sought to achieve having the bottom of the neck heel as close to the top of the guitar body as possible, similar to the Travis Bean aluminum necks, (also allowing ease of access to the highest frets), but with a bolt-on. I use a shallow neck pocket and extended heel cut to the same width profile as the neck, and this has become the standard on all of my builds. Previous models came with traditional wooden necks, (often Tele-style), but I’ve just finished one using a Hoxey aluminum neck, and am currently working on three commissions, one of which also features a Hoxey neck in a symmetrical double-cutaway Ash body. They produce a great product at an exceptionally attractive price for the builder. I will have three models for sale in 2024 featuring their necks in 25.5” and 24.75” scale.

BRUTE CREATIONS

“I try to keep my guitars affordable for people. I know that you can pick up a half decent Fender for £700 GBP, but for a wooden necked model with decent hardware and electrics you can get a unique and individual Brute Creation for the same price. 2024’s builds with Hoxey necks”.

I try to keep my guitars affordable for people. I know that you can pick up a half decent Fender for £700 GBP, but for a wooden necked model with decent hardware and electrics you can get a unique and individual Brute Creation for the same price. 2024’s builds with Hoxey necks and Mad Love pickups will cost around £1600 GBP.

I like pushing convention, be it the heel/body join, thinner bodies, hand-cutting aluminium pickguards, making aluminium backplates to increase sustain, or unlaquered acrylic finishes for a brutal DIY “damage-it-yourself” look. My love of doing things differently also extends to building Feedback Looper pedals for more experimental musicians, which have been really successful. I’m currently working on an unclipped, and ridiculously loud fuzz pedal, full of formless rage