UK

I'm delighted to introduce Gary Sounthwell from United Kingdom. I started making guitars in 1978 in my father's furniture making workshop. I was, and still am, a keen guitarist and artist. In 1980 I went to The London College of Furniture where I studied guitar making with...

Strangely enough, I decided to build my first guitar because of lack of money! I was in my mid twenties and mad about the music of finger-style players like Davy Graham and Bert Jansch. I’d been given a steel-string guitar years earlier when I was about twelve and had eventually traded up to a Framus which was very tired, so I needed something...

I made my fist guitar at the age of 19 in 1993 under the supervision of David Wooldridge, who was also my first guitar teacher. I trained as a fine artist, completing a BA in fine art and later an MA in contemporary visual arts. Throughout my twenties and early thirties I worked as an artist and teacher. During this time I continued to play classical guitar.

As a child I was a talented artist and liked making models. In my teen years I began to learn to play the guitar and these two interests inevitably came together and I made my first classical guitar on my parent’s kitchen table when I was in my late teens. I abandoned a career in agriculture and instead applied for a place at the London College of Furniture to study Musical...

I have always had a strong connection to working with wood. When I was 12 years old I would build wooden objects such as spice racks, chairs and tables and sell them to neighbours in our street. On leaving school I got a job maintaining and felling trees. During my free time, a guitar would always be on my knee...

Been making since 1985, mainly classical, but had a 5 year period of steel strings. Making Smallman type classicals exclusively since 1996. I'd been making traditional fan braced classicals for about 10 years; according to one of the more outspoken London dealers they were 'OK, but nothing special'. It was a realistic assessment, but then again you could say the same of most of the high end stock found in the shops at the time. But then I went to a recital given by Craig Ogden, where he would be...

Being the son of a toymaker I grew up making things with wood in my dad's workshop. My other interest in the guitar lead me to the London Guildhall University where I spent three years studying guitar making under the tutorlidge of David Whiteman and David Rouse. Since then I have been making classical guitars from...

I began making guitars around 20 years ago principally from books and with the help of an evening class in our local community college. The first three were played by a professional concert guitarist and led to my first commission. During my 20 years of instrument making I have constructed classical guitars (full sized concert as well as a number of shorter string length ‘salon’ guitars...

Born in Niagara Falls. Jobs: factory worker, miner, journalist, copywriter, creative director. Emigrated to London in 1966. Built first guitar in 1972 from a book. Studied guitar making at the Guildhall University. Awarded mark of distinction. Have had full order book since 1995. Make classical, flamenco and steel string guitars.