Meet the staff at Wunjo Guitar Shop London

Brian - Head Honcho

This is the man we must all thank for giving the world Wunjo Guitars. Brian has flirted with professional careers in football and music before he did a Jack Kerouac and went off to find himself America. He came back (presumably with himself) and went to Luthier's college before becoming a repair man at what used to be Andy's. In 2002, Wunjo Guitars was born in the cosy St Giles Street shop just round the corner from Denmark Street where we now happily reside. He likes the old stuff that hardly anyone has heard of, and has lately developed a penchant for old things that no-one can afford. Brian is pictured here with Dimi, a young man who has been working with us, but has now sadly moved on to pastures new. We all wish Dimi well in his new venture.

Ron

Ron Smith is the manager at Wunjo and takes the reins when Brian is on the Golf Course.. er, I mean.. attending important meetings. Ron has been in the guitar trade since possibly the bronze age, and some of you may know him from his days in the London Reso Centre. Ron joined Wunjo when the LRC closed a few years ago, and has brought some incredible instruments to the shop including some of the world's best vintage Gibson acoustics and resonators which you can see elsewhere on this site, and most recently, an authorised dealership for National Resophonic Guitars. Ron is half Italian, half Londoner, and is in a band called Ronnie Smith and The Debt who play a unique fusion style known as 'London-cana' (his words!). Pictured here with a National Style 1 Square Neck.

Jimmy-O

Streeeeeewth! Now every decent central London retail establishment worth their salt has Australian representation in some form, whether that be a Bruce or a Sheila or a cobber or a flaming mogrel. Jimmy O, our resident Antipodean, is more than just another Aussie, however. He has arrived on these shores with a mission to educate us mere poms with his unique brand of rock through his blistering two piece blues rock outfit, The Graveltones. He is also a very nice guy, and loves his guitars, so if you ever walk in to a friendly G\'Day, rest assured your in safe hands, and at no risk whatsoever of ending up with a Maton in your collection... unless you really want one of course. Pictured here with a beautiful Gibson ES-330 from 1967.

Marc

Marc Hayward has been with us for, erm, how long Marc? ... "too long!"

Marc has been juggling guitar sales with the life of a rock legend. Marc's band The Dash are the only thing stopping him from becoming an actual part of the furniture here at Wunjo, and his four days a week (or is it eight?) mean he's a familiar face to many of our regular customers. Marc used to be an N.M.E journalist before he quit to focus on the band, and has a few very interesting stories to tell, many of which the NME refused to publish because they're true. Never one to turn down a cuppa, Marc is head of Tea here at Wunjo, as well as being the Mayor of box city (don't ask). Pictured here with a lovely Rickenbacker 360 in FireGlo.

Freddie - Frusciante II

There have been a few unconfirmed sightings of the great former Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante in recent weeks here at Wunjo Guitars. I'd like to just let you all know that it definitely wasn't Frusciante you saw, it was probably Freddie. Freddie is a big fan of the Chili Peppers though, so he'd probably play along if you went up to him and starting chatting to him about life on the road with RHCP, Anthony Keidis' groupie list or Chad Smith's athlete's foot, he'll be happy to chat away. He'd also be very happy to chat to you about our fabulous selection of guitars new and old which he does get very passionate about. I've seen him many a time getting lost in a romantic guitar shaped cloud as he gazes at our wares, so you know your in the hands of a true afficionado, and you won't mind having your socks charmed off. He'll even serenade you if you ask him, he does it to us all the time. Freddie is a great guy and we welcome him into the fold.

Kevin - Man of the Street

Some of you might be thinking, I know that guy... where have I seen his face before. Well, for those Denmark Street regulars amongst you, Kevin will be someone you've almost certainly bumped into before, as we've just tempted him back from the dark side to come and work for us after quite a long spell at Hanks. Kevin brings with him a wealth of experience, a load of hilarious anecdotes about guitar sales that will have you in stitches... Being Canadian, Kevin has been thoroughly vetted for his tea making capabilities and I'm pleased to say he has passed with only a few minor faults. Nowadays, you're more likely see him chained to the repair bench than on the shop floor, since he's a bit of a dab hand with a soldering iron.

Tom

Tom is at once one of our newest members of staff, and one of our most experienced, having joined the Wunjo family with more than his fair share of guitar shop (and Denmark Street) experience under his belt. Tom is in about 15 bands, many of which have strange genre descriptions such as Trip-Folk-abilly-Jazz and Psyche-Country-Funk and Indie-Funk-Blues-Rock, which all sounds pretty cool. Perhaps it's because he's a Neil Young fan, he just wants to try everything. Anyway, we welcome Tom in to the fold, and hope he passes the Tea test, otherwise he's out... I think he did. Tom is pictured here with a Fender Jaguar from 1963.

Joshua - Sunday Best

As the youngest member of staff, it's always remarkable at the amount of old fuddy duddy guitar anoraks Josh sells guitars to. While the rest of us get a lesson in the vagueries of tonal differences between 1952 Gibsons and 1953 Gibsons (the better one is usually the one we don't have), Josh just shows you what we have, tells you it's great, and you buy it. Josh works mainly on Sundays, and so forfits a Sunday Roast every week for the love of working at Wunjo's. But come on, with the guitars we have here, such as the 1959 Gibson ES330T he's pictured with here, you could understand why!

Joe - Charm Offensive

Joe turned down a job at Vintage and Rare and came to work for Wunjo instead, so that just goes to show how cool we are. Not only that, he's moved all the way here from the West Country just to revel in the joyous guitar community that is Denmark Street. Often mistaken for a former Prime Minister of this country, after the anti-war protesters have been placated and ushered out of the shop, and the broken eggs and rotten tomatoes have been cleared up, Joe knuckles down and does a tremendous job of selling our finest wares, all with a smile that would charm the wigs off a tribunal committee. New town, New job, New Guitars, Cool Britannia. Pictured here with a lovely Harmony Rocket (now sold).

Tom (Tom Ⅱ)

Marginally less hairy than the other Tom you'll have read about above (although give him a few more months at Wunjo and you probably won't be able to tell the difference), Tom joined us during the summer months and has fast become part of the Wunjo furniture. So much so in fact, that we've even had him painting some of it, and you can marvel at his deft brush skills in our new sister shop on Denmark Street. Tom is in a few bands, and out of a few bands. I'd love to tell you which bands he's in but I'm not sure he knows himself just at the moment. Rock 'n' Roll life hasn't changed at all then. Still, he's certainly become a part of this band of brothers (or bras as it is sometimes pronounced) and you'll be able to enjoy his friendly welcome and quiet authority on all things guitar for the foreseeable future, we're glad to report.

Gerald - Guitar Ninja

Gerald is our repair man here at Wunjo. Gerald is another staff member who spends his spare time trying to rocket a band to stardom. The band in question is hard rock outfit Starseed, and whenever he gets a spare moment (which is becoming very rare in the workshop these days!) you'll hear Gerald running over his riffs and licks in such time signatures as 33/6 and 4/10. 4/4 is for woosies! Gerald has the unenviable task of running our workshop here at Wunjo, and he's the one to speak to if your little bundle of musical joy ever develops a maladie. If you want to contact the workshop, please email workshop@wunjoguitars.com, it could save you a long trip for a job we need to order parts for. Gerald is quite the shy and retiring type, as you can see from his choice of guitars. We had to take this one away from him, we had MI5 on the phone.

Rob - Tache back!

Despite having it confiscated several times by the local authorities, Rob has managed to cultivate and maintain quite possibly the best moustache we've ever had here at Wunjo Guitars. It really is a work of art. Not quite the full handle bar effect, but with matching sides burns like those, handle bars are just for losers. Besides this, Rob is settling in at Wunjo as one of our newest members of staff, whilst simultaneously rocking out in his band The Loose Salute, a band who look and sound a bit like they were cryogenically frozen just after Woodstock in '69 and have been recently defrosted. He's also in a band called Man Cub Baby Woman, presumably a tribute to the Jungle Book soundtrack, but for transexuals. We welcome Rob and his cookie duster to the fold.

Jack (the lad)

Saturdays will never be the same again. Jack has recently become acquainted with the ways of Wunjo with a couple of voluntary weeks on the shop floor, and has now been roped into a permananent Saturday berth. The warm welcome you'll be used to receiving on a Saturday has now become decidedly tropical. Jack is a bass player in a metal band, but despite this, he's a very eloquent chap, (apparently because he refuses to go within 3 metres of the drummer) and has good taste in bass guitars, as you can see from what he picked out to be photographed with - a 70s Fender Precision.

Jimmy-James

Jimmy James and the Vagabonds were big in the sixties and their name, thankfully, will not be forgotten thanks to Jimmy aka Jimmy-James, so that's a relief. Jimmy has been in the Wunjo fold for over four years having been rescued off the streets from a life of post graduate office based misery. Jimmy is our web monkey and looks after and edits the Wunjo website, and is, at this very time of writing, writing about himself in the staff section. In his spare time, when not thinking up witisisms for wunjoguitars.com, Jimmy also runs a young people's music initiative called Free The Jam.