Sourcing acoustic guitars and violins

2% duty

Read from the UK Trade Tariff on 26 September 2026, violins and other bowed string instruments, guitars and other string musical instruments of heading 9202 carried 2% duty on goods from China, with no anti-dumping measure. Electric guitars and instruments whose sound is produced or amplified electrically are in heading 9207, see the digital pianos and electric guitars guide, and cases, strings and parts have their own codes, so confirm the commodity code. For keyboard stringed instruments, see our acoustic piano sourcing guide.

CITES timbers and product rules

Some tonewoods are listed under CITES, which the UK applies through its own wildlife trade regulations with APHA as the permitting authority. Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra) is in Appendix I and needs permits even in a finished instrument, while exemptions for finished musical instruments cover many other rosewoods, so state every timber species in the specification and check the paperwork before shipping.

Instruments are consumer products under general product safety law, with small parts and finishes to consider for children's instruments, and instruments sold as toys for young children fall under the toy safety rules. Lacquers and glues should be free of restricted substances.

Worked duty example

Take a hypothetical order of 1,000 acoustic guitars, entered under 9202 90 30 00: £60,000 free on board plus £4,000 of freight and insurance gives a customs value of £64,000. The 2% duty on acoustic guitars comes to £1,280, and import VAT is 20% of £65,280, which is £13,056. If you are VAT-registered you normally reclaim the £13,056, leaving £1,280 as the real cost at the border. Step by step: UK import duty and VAT.

Inspection checklist

Timber and paperwork: every timber species on the bill of materials matched to the specification and to any CITES permit or exemption, with Dalbergia nigra refused unless the APHA permit is in hand, and wood moisture content measured with a calibrated moisture meter on tops, backs and necks from sampled instruments before they are packed.

Setup and playability: action height at the 12th fret, neck relief and nut slot height measured on every sampled guitar against the setup sheet, intonation checked at the 12th fret with a tuner, violins checked for bridge fit, soundpost position and peg function, and fret ends checked by hand along the neck.

Finish, hardware and packing: finish checked for runs, cracks and orange peel, tuners checked for smooth turning and holding pitch overnight, instruments packed with humidity protection and neck support, and packed cartons drop-tested with a sequence such as ISTA 2A, with a final random inspection to ISO 2859-1.

What goes wrong

String instruments fail on timber, setup and humidity. Wood that was not properly seasoned shrinks when it reaches a centrally heated home, so fret ends stick out, tops crack and bridges lift, and necks bow so the action is too high to play. Intonation is off because the saddle or nut is badly cut, glue joints open, finishes crack or yellow, and cheap strings and tuners will not hold tune.

Check wood moisture content on samples, inspect the setup with action height, neck relief and intonation measured at several frets, look for fret sprout, glue gaps and finish defects, play-test and tune samples over several days, specify strings and tuners, and pack instruments with humidity control in padded cases or double cartons.

Cambridge China Bridge sources acoustic and classical guitars, violins, ukuleles and other string instruments, with timber, setup and packing agreed before production. See how we source musical instruments.

Upright and grand pianos are covered in our acoustic pianos guide.