Approach

My guitars owe their inspiration to the instruments of Antonio de Torres, Santos Hernandez and Hermann Hauser 1. By combining design elements from these great makers with my own ideas I produce instruments which are traditional in style, relatively lightly built and very responsive.

I am aiming for a sound which is full bodied, yet clear and focussed across the whole musical spectrum. I favour a slightly thicker soundboard with fairly light struts which I feel contributes to more efficient sound radiation (projection) and helps give an instrument 'character'; widening its range of available colour. In particular, notes have a strong fundamental quality and this adds to the overall robustness of sound I like in a guitar.

Volume is a necessary attribute but it should not be pursued at the expense of musicality. Quite often guitars which are particularly loud close up do not project well in a concert situation and produce a sound which is unbalanced and lacking in purity.

Players often comment that my guitars are very easy to play. The design and method of construction contributes largely to this achieving just the right combination of string tension and plate elasticity. I pay particular attention to the feel of the neck and take care to ensure that the fingerboard is correctly adjusted and the frets are well polished.

My background as a visual artist, combined with good woodworking skills has allowed me to focus a lot on details of design and decoration and enabled me to produce guitars known for their high level of refinement.

I have always believed that quality comes before quantity and this is evident in the fact that my output is between ten and twelve instruments only per year, usually working on three concurrently.

Building guitars is very satisfying and I consider it a privilege in this age of 'fast fixes' to be producing something of the highest quality that I hope will give enduring pleasure to players and audiences alike.

Last Updated: May 2006