LEGAL

Privacy, Data Protection and Cookie Policy

How FB Guitars Ltd collects, uses, stores, shares and protects personal data when visitors, customers and collaborators interact with the company.

Last updated: October 2026

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1. Introduction

FB Guitars Ltd respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data.

This Privacy, Data Protection and Cookie Policy explains how FB Guitars Ltd collects, uses, stores, shares and protects personal data when you visit our website, communicate with us, subscribe to our communications, request information, configure or purchase an instrument, use our online services, or otherwise interact with FB Guitars.

It also explains your rights under applicable European Union and Maltese data protection law and how we may use artificial intelligence and other digital technologies in supporting our operations.

This Policy should be read together with any additional privacy information that may be provided when you use a particular FB Guitars service.

2. Who We Are

FB Guitars Ltd is a company established in Malta.

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679, commonly referred to as the GDPR, FB Guitars Ltd is the data controller in relation to personal data processed for the purposes described in this Policy, except where expressly stated otherwise.

Website:

www.fbguitars.com

Privacy and data protection enquiries: info@fbguitars.com

Registered office: 7 Bertu Hyzler Street, Qormi, QRM 2151, Malta

Company registration number: C116824

3. Data Protection Principles

When processing personal data, FB Guitars seeks to ensure that the information is:

processed lawfully, fairly and transparently;
collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes;
adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary;
accurate and, where appropriate, kept up to date;
retained only for as long as reasonably necessary;
protected through appropriate technical and organisational measures; and
handled in accordance with the rights of the individual concerned.

We apply the principles of data protection by design and by default when developing new services, systems and digital processes.

4. Personal Data We May Collect

The information we collect depends on how you interact with FB Guitars.

4.1 Information you provide directly

This may include:

your name;
email address;
telephone number;
billing address;
delivery address;
country or region;
company or organisation details where applicable;
correspondence and enquiries;
information submitted through website forms;
newsletter or marketing preferences;
information required to prepare quotations, orders or invoices;
guitar configuration and specification preferences;
information relating to an instrument you own, commission or submit for support;
warranty, repair, return or aftersales information;
photographs, drawings, files or other material you voluntarily send to us;
feedback, testimonials or reviews; and
other information you choose to provide during your relationship with FB Guitars.

4.2 Custom guitar and configuration information

Where you enquire about or order a custom instrument, we may process details concerning your chosen configuration.

These may include preferences relating to:

guitar model;
number of strings;
scale length;
single scale or multiscale configuration;
neck profile;
fretboard radius;
hardware;
electronics and pickups;
finish;
materials;
other technical or aesthetic options.

Some customisation information may relate to player comfort or ergonomic preferences.

We ask customers not to provide medical or other sensitive personal information unless it is genuinely necessary and specifically requested by us.

Where design objectives relate to comfort, playing style or ergonomics, we normally require only the technical requirements necessary to design the instrument.

4.3 Transaction information

Where purchases or payments are available, we may process information concerning:

products or services purchased;
transaction value;
payment status;
invoice details;
tax information;
delivery information;
refunds where applicable; and
transaction references.

Where payment is handled through an external payment service provider, FB Guitars does not necessarily receive or retain complete payment card information.

Payment providers may process information under their own privacy terms.

4.4 Technical and website information

When you access our website, our systems or service providers may process technical information such as:

Internet Protocol address;
browser type;
device type;
operating system;
date and time of access;
requested pages;
referring website;
website session information;
server and security logs;
cookie identifiers where applicable; and
diagnostic information required for security, reliability and troubleshooting.

We seek to minimise this information wherever reasonably possible.

5. Why We Process Personal Data

We may process personal data for the following purposes:

5.1 Enquiries and communications

To respond to questions, requests for information, collaboration proposals and other correspondence.

5.2 Quotations and pre-contractual activities

To prepare quotations, discuss specifications, evaluate requested configurations and take steps requested by you before entering into a contract.

5.3 Orders and contracts

To manufacture, source, configure, supply and deliver products or services ordered from FB Guitars.

5.4 Custom instrument development

To retain the specifications and technical requirements necessary to develop, manufacture, verify and support a custom FB Guitar.

5.5 Customer service and aftersales support

To administer warranties, repairs, troubleshooting, product support, returns and other aftersales matters.

5.6 Legal and accounting requirements

To maintain accounting records, invoices, transaction records, tax documentation and other records required under applicable law.

5.7 Website operation and security

To operate, maintain and protect our website, systems, intellectual property, users and business against misuse, fraud, cyber threats and unauthorised access.

5.8 Research and product development

We may use appropriately minimised, aggregated or anonymised information to improve FB Guitars products, engineering methods, software, services and research.

Where reasonably possible, personal identifiers are removed before information is used for research or statistical analysis.

5.9 Marketing communications

Where permitted by law, we may send information about FB Guitars products, launches, events, research, availability and company developments.

You may withdraw from marketing communications at any time.

6. Legal Bases for Processing

Depending on the circumstances, FB Guitars may rely upon one or more of the following legal bases.

Contract

Processing may be necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to perform a contract with you.

This applies, for example, to quotations, custom guitar orders, manufacturing, delivery and warranty support.

Legal obligation

Certain information must be retained or processed to meet accounting, taxation, consumer protection, corporate or other legal obligations.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal data where necessary for legitimate business interests and where those interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.

Examples may include:

responding to business enquiries;
maintaining customer relationships;
protecting our systems and intellectual property;
preventing fraud and misuse;
maintaining appropriate business records;
improving our services; and
establishing, exercising or defending legal claims.

Consent

Where processing requires your consent, such as certain electronic marketing activities, optional cookies or other optional technologies, we will request that consent separately.

You may withdraw consent at any time.

Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing that occurred before consent was withdrawn.

7. Mailing Lists and Marketing

Where you voluntarily subscribe to the FB Guitars mailing list or other marketing communications, we may use your contact information to send you information concerning:

guitar releases;
product availability;
research and development;
ToneVector and related technologies;
events and demonstrations;
company news;
behind the scenes material; and
other relevant FB Guitars developments.

Every electronic marketing communication will provide an appropriate mechanism to unsubscribe or manage your preferences.

We do not sell personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.

8. Cookies and Similar Technologies

Our website may use cookies, local storage or comparable technologies.

A cookie is a small amount of information stored on your device when you visit a website.

Cookies may be categorised as follows.

Strictly necessary cookies

These are necessary for the website, security features, shopping functions, consent management or other services requested by the user to operate correctly.

Where permitted by applicable law, these may be placed without requesting consent.

Preference or functional cookies

These may remember choices made by a visitor to provide enhanced functionality or personalisation.

Where consent is legally required, these cookies will not be activated until consent has been provided.

Analytics cookies

These help us understand how visitors use our website, which pages are visited and how the site performs.

Analytics that are not strictly necessary will only be activated where the appropriate legal requirements, including consent where applicable, have been satisfied.

Marketing cookies

Marketing or advertising technologies may be used in the future to measure campaigns or provide relevant communications.

Where these technologies require consent, they will remain disabled unless and until you provide that consent.

Third party content

Certain pages may contain or embed content provided by external services, such as video platforms, social media networks, mapping services or other technology providers.

Where such content would place non-essential cookies or similar technologies on your device, it should not be activated until the necessary consent has been obtained.

When required, visitors will be provided with a cookie consent mechanism allowing them to make a genuine choice concerning non-essential cookies.

Visitors should be able to:

accept optional cookies;
reject optional cookies;
select cookie categories where appropriate; and
change or withdraw their preferences later.

Rejecting non-essential cookies will not prevent access to the ordinary informational content of the FB Guitars website, although certain optional features may be unavailable.

Non-essential cookies should not be activated merely because a visitor continues browsing the website.

A current list of cookies and technologies in use may be provided through our cookie preference centre or a separate Cookie Policy.

10. Artificial Intelligence and Automated Technologies

FB Guitars may use artificial intelligence systems, machine learning tools, large language models, software assistants and other computational technologies to support aspects of its activities.

We believe that the use of artificial intelligence should be transparent, proportionate and subject to meaningful human responsibility.

10.1 How AI may be used

AI assisted tools may be used to support activities including:

drafting and reviewing communications;
administrative assistance;
information organisation;
technical research;
software development;
data analysis;
product development;
customer support assistance;
translation;
documentation;
fraud or security analysis;
internal decision support; and
development or operation of FB Guitars digital tools.

AI systems may also be incorporated into future interactive services offered through the FB Guitars website.

10.2 Personal data and AI

Where personal data is processed through an AI assisted system, FB Guitars will seek to ensure that there is an appropriate legal basis and that only information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose is used.

We do not intentionally submit unnecessary sensitive personal information to external artificial intelligence services.

Where third party AI providers process personal data on our behalf, appropriate contractual, technical and organisational safeguards will be considered in accordance with applicable data protection law.

10.3 Human oversight

Artificial intelligence may assist FB Guitars personnel but does not replace our responsibility for our customers, products or business decisions.

Unless expressly disclosed otherwise and permitted by law, FB Guitars does not intend to make decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects upon customers solely through automated processing without appropriate human involvement.

Where AI generated information contributes to a significant customer facing decision, appropriate human review should be maintained.

10.4 AI interaction transparency

If visitors are provided with a customer facing AI assistant, chatbot or similar system and it is not reasonably obvious that they are interacting with artificial intelligence, FB Guitars will seek to make this clear at or before the relevant interaction.

10.5 Information submitted to AI enabled services

Users should avoid providing confidential, sensitive or unnecessary personal information when interacting with any AI enabled feature unless the feature expressly requests such information for a legitimate purpose.

Where a specific AI powered service involves additional processing that cannot reasonably be explained through this general Policy, additional information may be provided at the point of use.

11. ToneVector and Technical Analysis

FB Guitars develops proprietary technical and computational systems, including ToneVector.

Where an FB Guitars system analyses instrument specifications, pickup configurations, scale geometry, string parameters or other technical characteristics, those technical parameters will not ordinarily constitute personal data by themselves.

If such technical information is linked to an identifiable customer, account, order or enquiry, the resulting information may constitute personal data and will be handled accordingly.

Technical and engineering information may be retained independently from customer identity where this is reasonably possible and appropriate.

FB Guitars may share limited personal information where necessary with trusted organisations that assist us in conducting our business.

These may include:

website hosting providers;
cloud infrastructure providers;
email service providers;
payment processors;
banks and financial institutions;
accounting and auditing professionals;
legal advisers;
IT and cybersecurity providers;
couriers and logistics companies;
manufacturing or specialist suppliers where necessary to fulfil an order;
customer relationship or communications platforms;
AI and software service providers;
regulatory or public authorities where legally required; and
other processors necessary for the operation of FB Guitars.

Recipients are provided only with information reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.

Where a service provider processes personal data on our behalf, FB Guitars seeks to use appropriate contractual and organisational safeguards.

We do not sell personal data.

13. International Data Transfers

Some technology, cloud, communication, payment, logistics or AI service providers may process information outside Malta or outside the European Economic Area.

Where personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, FB Guitars will seek to ensure that an appropriate transfer mechanism or safeguard recognised under applicable data protection law is in place.

Depending upon the destination and provider, this may include:

an adequacy decision adopted by the European Commission;
approved standard contractual clauses;
another lawful transfer mechanism; or
another applicable safeguard permitted under the GDPR.

14. Data Retention

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably required for the purposes for which it was collected and to satisfy applicable legal, accounting, warranty, contractual or evidential requirements.

Different information may therefore have different retention periods.

For example:

marketing subscription information may be retained while you remain subscribed;
enquiry information may be retained for a reasonable period to allow follow up;
customer and order records may be retained for the duration of the customer relationship and applicable statutory retention periods;
invoices and accounting information will be retained for the periods required by applicable law;
warranty and technical records may be retained where necessary to support an instrument throughout the relevant warranty or service period;
security logs may be retained for a limited period appropriate to cybersecurity and system administration; and
consent records may be retained where necessary to demonstrate compliance with applicable law.

Where information is no longer required, it will be deleted, anonymised or securely disposed of as appropriate.

15. Information Security

FB Guitars applies appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal information against:

unauthorised access;
accidental loss;
misuse;
alteration;
unauthorised disclosure; and
destruction.

Measures may include, where appropriate:

access controls;
authentication controls;
secure infrastructure;
encrypted communications;
backups;
system updates;
cybersecurity monitoring;
restricted administrative access; and
contractual confidentiality obligations.

No internet connected system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. We therefore continuously assess security measures in proportion to the nature of the information and the risks involved.

16. Data Breaches

Where FB Guitars becomes aware of a personal data breach, we will assess the nature and potential consequences of the incident.

Where required under applicable data protection law, FB Guitars will notify the competent supervisory authority and affected individuals within the applicable legal requirements.

17. Your Data Protection Rights

Subject to the conditions and limitations established by applicable law, you may have the right to:

request access to personal data concerning you;
request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data;
request deletion of your personal data;
request restriction of processing;
object to certain forms of processing;
receive certain personal data in a portable format;
withdraw consent where processing is based upon consent;
object to certain direct marketing activities; and
obtain safeguards in relation to qualifying automated decision making.

Certain rights are not absolute and may be restricted where FB Guitars is legally required or otherwise entitled to retain or process particular information.

To exercise a data protection right, contact: info@fbguitars.com

We may need to verify your identity before fulfilling a request in order to protect personal information from unauthorised disclosure.

18. Right to Lodge a Complaint

If you believe that your personal data has been processed contrary to applicable data protection law, you may contact FB Guitars so that we can investigate your concern.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection supervisory authority.

For FB Guitars Ltd in Malta, this is:

Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner

Malta

Current contact information and complaint procedures are available through the Commissioner’s official website at:

www.idpc.org.mt

This does not affect any other administrative or judicial remedy available to you.

19. Children

The FB Guitars website and commercial services are not specifically directed towards children.

We do not intentionally seek to collect personal information from children where parental or guardian authorisation would be required by applicable law.

Where we become aware that information has been collected in circumstances requiring such authorisation, appropriate steps will be taken.

20. External Links

Our website may contain links to websites or services operated by other organisations.

FB Guitars does not control those external services and is not responsible for their privacy practices.

Visitors should review the privacy information provided by the relevant external service before providing personal information.

FB Guitars may maintain profiles on social media platforms.

When you interact with FB Guitars through those platforms, the platform operator may independently process information concerning your activity.

Such processing is subject to the relevant platform’s own privacy terms in addition to any processing undertaken by FB Guitars.

22. Photography, Video and Publicity

FB Guitars may create or publish photographs, videos, interviews, testimonials or other media relating to instruments, artists, demonstrations, performances or events.

Where identifiable individuals are the principal subject of such material, FB Guitars will consider the appropriate legal basis, permissions and reasonable expectations applicable to the circumstances.

Separate consent or release arrangements may be used where appropriate.

23. Changes to This Policy

FB Guitars may update this Policy from time to time to reflect:

changes to our website or services;
new technologies;
new processing activities;
changes to service providers;
regulatory developments; or
changes to applicable law.

The current version will be published on the FB Guitars website together with its effective or revision date.

Where a change materially affects the manner in which existing personal information is processed, additional notice may be provided where appropriate.

24. Contact

For privacy, data protection or cookie enquiries, or to exercise your data protection rights, please contact:

FB Guitars Ltd