I acquired my first guitar at the age of ten when my father found a broken one in a skip. Together we spent many hours repairing it, and since then I became captivated by its sound and intrigued by its construction. 

 

I have been making guitars for more than 25 years and am fascinated by the process of turning beautiful wood into a living instrument of simple beauty which can produce versatile sound – whether aggressive and strong, powerful and passionate, or light and tender. 

 

When I start a new guitar, I have an idea in my mind as to how the guitar will look and sound. I aim to make all my guitars respond individually to the player, and I select the wood very carefully, paying great attention to the soundboard and matching it with the most suitable sides and back. I use traditional methods and work almost entirely by hand. 

 

My passion for making individual and distinctive guitars can best be summarised by Andres Segovia, the father of modern classical guitar playing, when he said: 

 

“The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different colour, a different voice.”