WELCOME TO STILWELL GUITARS
Hand Crafted Guitars
Made To Order
Driven and inspired by sound. I aim to produce beautiful guitars, starting first with the sound. Everything else flows from there.
GUITARS IN WORK
Guitar 9 is finished. It's the first of my smaller body shape with a shorter 635mm scale length that I'm calling 'Grand Parlor'. Here are some glamour shots followed by an interesting comparison shot showing the relative size compared to my full size concert model. After that a few pics of the guitar being built.
GUITAR 5 - SOLD
Gutiar 5 is continuing to open up as I play it. It has a full, lush sound with plenty of overtones and harmonic complexity. A lot of volume and nice voice separation. The basses are nicely focused, strong, and project well. Despite the backwards video it is a right handed guitar. ;-) The neck has a flattened D shape that is very comfortable to play.
Details:
European Spruce Top
Indian Rosewood Back and Doubled Sides
Ebony Fingerboard
Port Orford Cedar Neck
650 mm scale length
52mm Nut with 42mm string spacing
57mm string spacing at 12 hole Bridge
20th Fret
Price: $2,500.00
BACKGROUND
How I Got Started
I grew up with classical music all around me. My mother played the Violin, my father the Cello, my grandfather the Viola; all in symphony orchestras. I attended a performing arts school where I played trumpet. Then I decided to do something totally different and became a mechanical engineer. I've always been keenly interested in how and why things work, and this career satisfied that interest, but ultimately music was lacking in my life. Searching for a new instrument to learn I discovered the classical guitar and stared taking lessons.
I absolutely fell in love with the sound of the classical guitar, and the variations in sound a great instrument can produce. I was inspired by recordings of Julian Bream, Jason Vieaux, Andres Segovia and David Russell. I played every guitar I could, searching for the sound I wanted to produce and came across some very good guitars that all sounded different from one another. The engineer in me wanted to understand why the guitars sounded different and to learn more about how guitars are made.
Three years in to exploring this new found passion, I stopped taking lessons and started devoting my time to making guitars. Working with Rick Davis of Running Dog Guitars, I built my first classical guitar. I was immediately hooked. Now my guitar hobby had become a passionate obsession. I read everything I could get my hands on about building guitars, attended luthier conventions, and joined the Guild of American Luthiers. My quest for knowledge led me to Robert O'Brien, who helped me hone my skills. After building two more guitars at home, I traveled to Spain and spent a month building my 4th guitar with master luthier Stephen Hill at the European Institute of Guitar Making using traditional Spanish construction techniques.
Now I am dedicated to pursuing guitar making full time. My passion for creating beautiful instruments is driven by the sound and variations in sound I want to create. My background in music and engineering give me the resources to get there.
SHOP HOURS
Come Visit
I'm in my shop most weekdays from 9 am till late afternoon, but have kids and need to run errands etc. So you're welcome to drop by but will have to contact me to make an appointment.
