My first guitar was a ¾ sized nylon string model purchased in a souvenir shop on La Rambla in Barcelona during a family holiday to Spain in the late 1960s. I think my Dad was hedging his bets in case my current enthusiasm turned out to be a passing fad. It was just about playable for my 9 year old hands and on return from holiday I started weekly lessons in classical guitar with a local guitar teacher following the tutorials in the Clifford Essex Publication “The Classical Guitar and How to Play it by Alonso Medio”. Initially I was taken with the idea of Flamenco Guitar and was lucky enough to see Manitas de Plata at the Colston Hall in Bristol.
At 18 I joined the Royal Navy as a Logistics Officer but my interest in the guitar continued and a classical guitar, which I received for my 11th birthday, travelled the globe with me and is currently making music and continuing its travels, last stop Botswana, with my middle son Hamish.
During my 32 year service in the Navy, on, below and above the waves, my musical tastes broadened and my menagerie of guitars changed line-up. The common theme however has remained my interest in the craftsmanship of both the guitar maker and the guitar player be they Stochelo Rosenberg, Darrell Scott,Tim O'Brien, Bryan Sutton or Jerry Douglas, to name but a few. After leaving the Navy I decided to take the opportunity to follow my interests in guitar making and trained, under the expert tuition of Phil Messer, at the Totnes School of Guitar Making successfully completing my first guitar. Encouraged by my initial foray into instrument making I decided to take the plunge and pursue guitar making on a full time basis with the aim of selling my work to fund the next project in the process building a business step by step.
As an amateur guitar player and guitar music aficionado I have had the opportunity to play and hear a wide range of guitars so I have a good understanding of the tone, playability and build quality discerning acoustic guitarists are looking for.