One of Britain's greatest and most well loved comedians of recent years, Bill is well known for using quirky musical instruments in his comedy and Dubreq approached him in 2007 with the offer of making him a 'Stylophone guitar' using parts left spare from the Rolf Harris 'Buzzing V' project from a few years before. The second 'Buzzing V' was made with input and ideas from Bill himself and featured twin necks with a second bass Stylophone built into the lower neck which could be played with a modified blues bottle and had a pitch bend slider on the upper neck for the lead Stylophone built into the body. The guitar was presented to Bill during his 'Tinselworm' tour.

Probably the most high profile user of the Stylophone. David Bowie first used the Stylophone on 'Space Oddity' in 1969 but has gone on to use the instrument on numerous tracks since then. It was his use of the Stylophone on the Jonathan Ross show in 2002, whilst promoting his Heathen album, and his comment that “It's the only instrument I take on holiday with me to compose on” which kick-started the S2 project and the Stylophone re-launch.

The name given to the 'Flying-V' style Stylophone guitar made for Rolf Harris in 2003 for his '50 years in show-business' concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The instrument was built with a solid wood body and a hand carved rosewood neck and used a 1970's Stylophone as the basis for it's internal workings. The guitar was retro-fitted with a circuit that allowed the user to switch up or down a full octave using metal touch-pads on the neck of the guitar, giving it a 4+ octave range. A second 'Buzzing V' was built for comedian Bill Bailey in 2007 using similar technology.

Bert Coleman was the managing director and founder of the original Dubreq back in the late 60's. Taking on the roll of 'head of marketing' in addition to running the company, it was his vision and persistence that hooked Rolf Harris as the face of the Stylophone and made it the hit it was. After Dubreq closed it's doors Bert went on to run his own company selling novelty gifts and has since retired.

The legend of the 'Golden Stylophone' goes back some while and it's origin is still somewhat fuzzy. The legend goes that at some point in the early 70's, as a promotional stunt for an unknown musician, a golden Stylophone was made for them to play on stage. Whether this was painted gold or actually gold plated is unknown. After some discussion with Brian Jarvis he certainly doesn't remember ever seeing or being involved with such a product and, despite various claims that various people have suddenly 'found' the magical golden stylophone (coincidentally a week after the legend was mentioned on this very website)... it's entirely likely these are modern fakes. Enquiries with musicians who may have been linked to this story are ongoing.... and so the legend lives on!

The i-Stylophone is the official Stylophone emulator for the Apple iPhone. Created under license by 'The Very Cool Software Company' in 2008, the App features studio samples of all three of the original Stylophone variants, bass, mid and treble.

The inventor of the Stylophone. Brian Jarvis had always been an creator, an ideas man. In 1967 he formed a company with friends Bert Coleman and Ted Coleman , Dubreq Ltd. The invention of the Stylophone came completely out of the blue (as all great inventions do) and it's success took everyone by surprise.

Brian left Dubreq in 1975, around the end of the Stylophone era, to pursue other things and set up his own design and engineering company, Keystone Design Services Ltd. After having two sons (Ben and Paul) and being involved in all manner of design and engineering projects from props for TV shows through to medical equipment, Brian 'retired' in 2005. As with all great inventors however, the term 'retired' simply means he gets to drink Horlicks on his breaks instead of coffee. Brian is still inventing and helping out on the sidelines with new Dubreq products.