Windy Hill GuitarWorks
was founded in 1992 as a result of a trip to the CF Martin Factory
in Nazereth, Pennsylvania. I thought guitar construction was carried
out by very old men with long beards doing secret stuff to exotic
woods. The Martin factory tour enlightened me to the fact that
some of the best guitars on the planet were being build by young
factory workers wearing Harley jackets and ear rings (even some
of the women). I started off with a collection of B-grade parts
that some luthiers had picked out for me from the rejected parts
bins at the old Martin factory. The back and sides had all of
the braces already glued on, the sides were bent with the kerfing
glued on, and the neck was completely assembled including fingerboard,
nut and frets. I basically glued together the four pieces and
strung it up. (I figured that I was way ahead of Dick Boak who
got his first parts from diving the Martin dumpsters). I read
everything I could find about guitar design and construction and
attended my first ASIA (Acoustic Stringed Instrument Artisans)symposium.
Over the years I have
established relationships with suppliers, invested in some machinery
and built many jigs and tools to make my guitars consistant and
raise the quality to the level required in today's market place.
I resaw all of the body wood and bracing from exceptional stock
that my suppliers put aside for me.I feel that I now have
a good understanding of the physics behind guitar performance
but do not subscribe to the idea that close manufacturing tolerances
make good guitars. Wood is far from consistant and to make it
work well in an instrument, you have to listen to and let it it
tell you what to do. This is art, not just science. I read about
violin makers measuring Stradivarii violins then trying to duplicate
those exact measurements in a new violin. I feel this is the wrong
approach. The Cremona violin shops produced some 14,000 instruments
in the 1600-1700s. I would not be at all surprised to learn that
the "masters" picked the best from their students, journeymen,
etc. and signed those as their own. I am continually amazed
at the openness of the other builders. Guitarmakers will explain
in great detail anything they have learned along the way. To date,
I have made about 250 guitars, sold most of those, repaired many
guitars, fiddles, basses, banjos, hurdy gurdys, etc. I teach guitarmaking at the Woodcraft
store in Springfield,
VA every fall. This has taught me a great deal about different
approaches to each step in the building process. I visit other
builders whenever I travel to learn about the things they have
discovered.