Jul 12 2019
Nick Branwell is a London-based luthier who is perhaps best known for his beautiful Torres style classical guitars. Recently Nick has turned his attentions to the steel-string acoustic instrument and he invited me to visit his workshop this week to…
Jul 3 2019
The desert is a weird place. And there's a lot of it. Especially in-between Phoenix and Spring Branch...
It was this desert that Jason Kostal and I would traverse in an epic 1000 mile road trip through Arizona, New Mexico…
Jun 16 2019
Well, that's a very good question! As the buying public's appetite for exotic woods (especially post-CITES Dalbergia alternatives) has increased, there has been something of a rush to find the next, greatest, coolest, rarest, oldest, etc woods possible. One choice…
Jun 3 2019
As far as I'm concerned there are few things in life as pleasurable as playing a new guitar for the luthier who made it. In this case the instrument in question was a beautiful small body TS model in Bog…
May 1 2019
It's always a pleasure to spend time with luthier Tom Sands and in a recent trip up to Durham I finally had the opportunity to visit his workshop in Yorkshire. While there we recorded an episode of The Interval (The…
Dec 31 2018
This may be the first time you've heard the name Mark Gaiero but I can promise you it won't be the last!
I met Mark during the final days of his apprenticeship at the Somogyi Guitars workshop in Oakland California…
Dec 25 2018
I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Oakland California, where I had the chance to catch up with my friend Leo Buendia who, like Michi Matsuda, Mario Beauregard, and Jason Kostal before him apprenticed with Ervin Somogyi.
Since…
Dec 1 2018
Derek Gripper is an extraordinary talent and since we first played together in Paris earlier this year I've been looking forward to the next time we'd share a stage. That happened in October in Cape Town South Africa at the…
Nov 15 2018
This wonderful instrument is the first Casimi Guitar, it even predates the company's logo so there's nothing on the headstock and no label! It is what was to become the Casimi C2 model and is made from Cocobolo on the…
Nov 4 2018
Last month I spent a truly magical few days in Cape Town South Africa with Matthias Roux and Matthew Rice of Casimi Guitars. We had a lot to cram into that short stay and I came back to the UK…