Independent luthiers today face a lot of pressure to make their guitars look distinctive.  Many excellent guitars result from this drive for ingenuity, and are often lavished in ornate inlay work and dazzling rosettes. The finishes are high luster and the guitar offers a modern and highly ornamented impression.  Many beautiful examples of these guitars are available for a particular taste.  

My own tastes happen to run in a very different direction.  In approaching the design of a guitar, I endeavor to illuminate the essentially wooden character of the instrument without piling on embellishments. A well made guitar, in all its simplicity, is a beautiful, warm and intimate creation.  Through proper wood selection and understated design choices, it can be distinguished more subtly by its fundamental qualities.  With a careful assessment of each component, and with an eye towards the harmonious blending of these elements, both aurally and visually, a guitar needs only the barest of additional rosettes and purflings to highlight its endemic character.  Upon completion, these guitars give the impression of precisely what they are: wooden instruments made meticulously and lovingly by hand, with a resulting tone that is warm and balanced with excellent sustain. 

Cedar soundboard with quilted maple back and sides.  Dovetailed cherry neck with stacked heel and book matched cherry sapwood head plate.  Cocobolo binding, bridge and fretboard, and a hand-rubbed oil finish. 

Cedar soundboard with birdseye maple back and sides.  Dovetailed cherry neck with stacked heel and book matched cherry sapwood head plate.  Cherry binding and bridge.  Cocobolo fretboard, and a hand-rubbed oil finish.  

Douglass fir soundboard with tiger maple back and sides.  Dovetailed maple neck with stacked heel and book matched spalted tiger maple head plate.  Cocobolo binding and bridge.  Spalted Maple fretboard, and a hand-rubbed oil finish.

Douglass Fir soundboard with spalted maple back and sides.  Dovetailed cherry neck with stacked heel and book matched spalted maple head plate.  Cherry binding and bridge.  Spalted Maple fretboard, and a hand-rubbed oil finish.