Posts

A Canadian guitar maker initiated a trade school in Uganda that trains young people to make world class guitars.

Old growth Kauri trees are now found only in small remnant areas. But huge ancient logs buried in peat yield spectacular wood.

Brazilian Rosewood has a long history as a prized tonewood, but its over-exploitation and subsequent trade restrictions mean it is now scarce.

Correctly identifying and putting a name to species is important for both conservation and trade. Many species are at increasing risk of extinction, including some of the trees that produce the most prized guitar woods. Here I look at the ins and outs of biological names.

Guitars and whisky barrels? The oak wood in the Fylde Single Malt Ariel started life in Kentucky and cycled through bourbon and single malt whisky barrels.

How the global timber trade turned giant Douglas Fir from Vancouver Island into floorboards in Fremantle.

Traditional materials for making guitars have been getting scarcer and caught up in tangles with trade restrictions. How are guitar makers responding?

Visiting guitar-making father and daughter, Wayne and Jayne Henderson, in Virginia and North Carolina and watching amazing guitars being created.

Guitar makers, like virtually everyone, have been impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic in many ways, but continue to hope for a better future.

Thinking and writing about guitars may seem fatuous in the midst of an all-consuming pandemic, but music remains as important to the human soul as ever.