Regular readers will be well aware of my love of Microtech Gefell Microphones - in fact over the course of the past 15 years or so I have made hundreds of acoustic guitar demos using a matched pair of their…

It was a real pleasure to work on a new video project for Elixir Strings! In this video I look at 80/20 Bronze and Phosphor Bronze NANOWEB strings from the player's point of view. 

It was such a joy…

Do you have a love/hate relationship with certain tone woods? I have to admit that I do, and in particular the more vitreous members of the rosewood family can be hard work for me. 

If there is one wood that…

The name Ciaran McNally may be a new one to many of you but this young luthier based in Armagh Northern Ireland already has a huge amount of experience as an acoustic guitar maker having worked for both Lowden and…

Strap yourselves in ladies and gentlemen - The Lava Guitars ME3 is here and things are going to get very weird very quickly!

Something of a cross between an acoustic guitar, a spaceship and a smart phone this iconoclastic six-string…

Rickenbacker guitars have a magnetic pull for me - I can't explain exactly why but I find them to be some of the most beautiful electric guitar designs out there. 

As such it was a pleasure to visit Shapero Rare…

Right - we should be back on track after a few weeks deep in other beautiful things (not complaining - it's a wonderful problem to have!) and here is the news as regards my incoming instrument from Casimi Guitars!

As…

While I do get regular offers to play rare and exotic guitars I am not so jaded that the thought of spending quality time with an original 1959 Gibson Sunburst Les Paul doesn't get the blood pumping!

In this video…

I am regularly asked for my thoughts on the differences between acoustic guitars from the USA and the UK and rather than get bogged down in minutiae I find that a direct comparison is often the most useful way to…

Since I played my first notes on a Casimi acoustic guitar back in 2014 I have been inspired, awestruck and not a little obsessed with the sound that Mattias Roux and Matthew Rice of Casimi Guitars manage to pull out…

Recently I've had a lot of emails asking what happened to the Clara Archtop that Luthier Thierry André and I had been working on for the 2020 Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin. 

80 Year Old Sinker Cedar anybody?

How…

You can now watch the entire 4-episode guide to alternate tunings that I hosted for Guitar.com and Elixir Strings!

Oh yes you can!

In this final episode I explore some full-sounding textural tunings that you may have heard under the…

I have been very fortunate, over the past couple of decades I have been left unsupervised with some truly stellar instruments made with love by many of the world's most talented luthiers. 

This sort of thing being a case in…

It's always a joy to spend time with my friend John Stubbings - John is the author of one of the most beautiful books on the acoustic guitar that I have ever read The Devil Is In it - if…

The Modified Dreadnought acoustic guitar was created by the luthier Ervin Somogyi (Oakland, California) in the late 1970s at the request of several artists recording for Will Ackerman's nascent Windham Hill record label - most notably Daniel Hecht who…

While trawling my archive of hours of raw footage from the first season of Luthier Stories I came across this clip where legendary guitar builder Ervin Somogyi talks about the creation of an unusual instrument made with decayed woods and…

Here's something a little different! This recording was inspired by a voice message sent to me by my friend Brian Truesby  which I believe neatly encapsulates the thought process that goes into every video I make.

I know I won't…

It is a question that comes up with unfailing regularity wherever acoustic guitarists congregate. Inevitably one, perhaps a little bolder than the rest, will offer an opinion on the efficacy of Martin's venerable dreadnought design when pressed into service as…

It has been several years since I first explored the topic of nailcare for the acoustic guitarist in a video. Many things have evolved since then and my approach to nail care and tone production is no exception. 

In this…

Linda Manzer's Wedge design is an elegant ergonomic solution to the challenge of playing a large-bodied acoustic guitar.

Not to be confused with The Manzer Wedgie - a playground manoeuvre also invented by Linda some years previously - The…

Recent bouts of pondering coupled with conversations with friends led to a very real and pressing need to explore the tonal implications of flatwound strings on a flat top guitar.  Because why not?

Obviously a set of flats isn't going…

I'd like to share this new piece with you - It's called Birdseye and while it's still a work in progress to some extent, I managed to pull off a take during some long-overdue time spent with loved ones in…

Maple is a wood that divides opinion amongst acoustic guitarists with almost surgical precision. "It's too bright, There's no bass, it's too trebly, it's sterile" etc are accusations often levelled at this superb wood. 

Cheerfully I say unto you "Bollocks". 

…

I'm very happy to present the first episode of Guitar.com's guide to alternate tunings for acoustic guitar in association with Elixir Strings!

Yes, I have been a little quiet here, the main reason is that with the easing of the…

I have made no secret of my admiration for the work of luthier Michihiro Matsuda (Oakland CA). Since first meeting him in 2009 I have been regularly left dumbfounded by the extraordinary elegance and startling lines of his instruments. As…