Birth of a new machine
Teaching Machines is owned and operated by Frank Naughton and Mat Wigley. They are two English guys who’ve lived in Wales most of their lives which actually makes them honourary Welsh men.
Frank is a talented Musician, Engineer, Producer, Songwriter and general polymath. He runs a recording Studio in Cardiff called Ty Drwg and has worked with such notable luminaries as Thighpaulsandra, Mike Paradinas, MC Mabon and Geraint Jarman to name just a few. He’s toured the world as a musician, playing with Theatre companies and bands. He’s a founding member of Rocketgoldstar and has a deep knowledge of electronics among many other interests.
Mat is also a musician, playing synth in bands for many years. He’s worked as a Photographer, Graphic Designer, Scenic Artist and Postman. He produces electronic music under the great name of DJ Dinnermoney and has a love for the finer things in life such as ping-pong, porridge and police procedurals.
They have been friends since the late 90’s when they met through mutual musician friends. They’ve worked together on and off over the years but they only formed Teaching Machines quite recently after spending a while talking about ‘the industry’. They realised they had a shared vision of what a good hardware business should be and a set of quite complimentary skills.
As people and as a company they’re aiming to walk a narrow path between simplicity and control. They want their products to be intuitive and fun to use whilst giving as much command over the sound as possible.
They saw a gap in the market for a stereo spring reverb with some nice extra features so they wanted to create one as their first product. Thus the Wellspring was conceived and Teaching Machines with it. It took a long time and lots of fiddling about to actually make the thing of course but that’s another story which they must tell soon.
They also have many other great products on the horizon but they can’t talk about them yet..
You're the best
Many thanks to Mike Grindle from LifeIsUnfair for an incredible PCB layout. Thanks also to Gwion Christmas from Holy Island Audio for guiding a newbie. Thanks to The MAGICAL MUSHROOM COMPANY for going with us. Many thanks to Steve at Absolute Sign & Print for a great screenprinting job. Many thanks to Luke from Bayside Engineering for cutting and folding the enclosure and your patience in dealing with us. Thanks must go to ASC Direct for the great cardboard box! Thanks indeed also to Mary Wycherly from Two Cats in the Yard for the use of her photography studio. We’d better thank Gaz Williams too, for everything he has done so far and inevitably will do in the future. Thanks Gaz.
Very many thanks to all our early investors for taking a chance on us and making it all possible especially Matt Reynolds for the early faith and Leon West who hooked us up in so many ways. Extra special thanks to Sam Slater for the endorsement which means a very great deal indeed. From the centre of our hearts we thank you all.
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