In tune with the times

Darren Grainger is a man with many strings to his bow. As well as the Founder and Director of rapidly expanding Hi-Spec Precision Engineering, he also has his own guitar building business and plays in a successful covers band. Entrepreneur, engineer, innovator and musician, Darren clearly doesn’t miss a beat.

His journey to professional and personal success was, by his own account, far from obvious. Following a strong set of GCSE results, Darren found college boring, dropping out to join the engineering firm where his father worked, more out of necessity than ambition.

“I soon discovered that deburring and operating pillar drills was dull, so I took an evening course in CAD and landed a role in the drawing office,” he says. “A subsequent MBO then presented me with the chance to become the company’s Technical Manager, aged just 21.”

Now with the bit between his teeth, opportunity and drive continued to collide. Just three years later in 2004, Darren took a loan for £6,500 and launched Hi-Spec Precision Engineering in Market Overton, Rutland. Starting out with pre-owned manual machines, Hi-Spec soon evolved into a state-of-the-art, highly automated, multi-axis, CNC manufacturing facility.

“Investing was terrifying at first. Our first CNC machine cost almost half the value of my house,” he laughs. “Now it’s second nature. We invested around £250,000 in our latest machine. I believe in single set-up, done-in-one machining. It serves us well, particularly with the support of our robots and pallet systems.”

Two decades on, Hi-Spec has grown tenfold, earning its reputation for exceptional quality and delivery across a diverse customer base. Hi-Spec even uses its CNC and CADCAM technology to produce the hardware for sister company, Grainger Guitars, producing beautiful electric guitars for musicians worldwide.

A guitarist since childhood, Darren extended his passion beyond the workshop. In 2015 he formed Halo, a covers band performing everything from The Beatles and Elton John to Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses, appearing at weddings and events across the country.

And just like Halo and Grainger Guitars, Hi-Spec operates in perfect harmony – an ensemble of skills, technology and creativity working in concert to deliver a performance customers can rely on.