I began building guitars whilst still at school when I was fourteen years old. Motivated by desire to play and my lack of a guitar, and with the encouragement of an enthusiastic woodwork teacher, I managed to produce an interesting approximation of a classical guitar.
In 1975 I began a three year study of Musical Instrument Technology at the then London College of Furniture, now Guild Hall University. Here I worked alongside other fledgling luthiers, the like of Matthew Klien, Michael Gee, Mark Lacey and Christopher Dean.
Having begun guitar building concentrating on classical guitar, I rapidly developed an interest in the modern steel string and jazz guitar, and on leaving college I set up workshop adjacent to the Early Music Workshops in Bradford. Here I built instruments some of which sold through retailers including Ivor Mairants, Bert Janschs’ Music Shop, Sounds Acoustic etc; but mainly I built guitars the way I most enjoy doing, for individual guitarists’ personal specifications and needs.
My workshop moved to Keighley and then to the small Pennine village of Oxenhope and later I helped to found Opus Workshops, a workers co-op, with two other luthiers, Allan Ingham and John Marlow. Opus was a successful and interesting experiment for me but growing family commitments finally led me to leave and take a break from guitar building generally.
However, this "time out" gave me the space to study for a degree in creative arts and more importantly reassess my craft. I lectured in guitar construction on the Musical Instrument Technology course at Leeds College of Music for 5 years and currently design and build my guitars at the Damems workshop. If you would like to get in touch I will be happy to talk to you.
