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B C B U S I N E S S . C A
J U N E 2 0 2 5 P r e s t i g e G ui t a r s ; illu s t r a t i o n : J a n ik S ö ll n e r/ N o u n P r oj e c t
THE
NBOX
i
It's possible that, if the
COVID-19 pandemic had never
hit, Prestige Guitars would
still be getting all of its guitars
made in South Korea. The
North Vancouver shop was
getting some 800 to 1,000
guitars a year made overseas
before production halted. The
country was (and still is) a hub
for guitar-making and many of
the big names in the industry
were eating up the little capaci-
ty that remained.
"We went to getting only
200 instruments," says
founder and president Mike
Kurkdjian. "We had to make
some difficult decisions in
those years to turn off the
dealer funnel and only focus
on our direct-to-consumer
business." It wasn't long before
that led to a larger decision to
not be reliant on a third-party
manufacturer.
Rare is the business these
days that does manufactur-
ing in Canada, let alone in
B.C.—the costs (of space,
especially) hardly ever work
out in favour of keeping things
close to shore. But in 2023,
STRING RING
North Vancouver's Prestige Guitars is a global
leader in the industry, with the likes of Shania
Twain and Slash repping their products. In 2023,
the company made the bold move to manufacture
guitars at its own facility. Recently, the company's
100th guitar came off the production line and,
despite the challenges, its founder ain't no quitter
by Nathan Caddell
R E TA I L
FINE TUNE
Mike Kurkdjian
(above) and his team
at Prestige Guitars
produced their 100th
Canadian-made guitar
(left) at their North Van-
couver factory in 2024,
a milestone for the
global guitar company
previously manufactur-
ing abroad
Kurkdjian and his team of
nine employees opened a
manufacturing space above a
brewery in North Vancouver
(about a five-minute drive
from the company's storefront
location).
Last year, Prestige pro-
duced its 100th guitar from
that North Van factory (a
mahogany piece that blends
together purple and blue). It's
been a long journey for Kurk-
djian, one that started right
out of high school, when he
was listening to Tool, Nirvana,
Soundgarden and Audioslave
and working on guitars.
Kurkdjian originally
operated sales showrooms in
Burnaby and East Vancouver
before moving to North Van in
2014. That's also around when
the business started to take
off, as long-time Vancouver
guitar manufacturing mainstay
