I had a great opportunity this year to work on a very special project. My client approached me with a special request: he wanted twin heirloom guitars built for his grandkids. But more than that, he wanted to use walnut that he and his father had felled on their family farm in the early 90s. The wood was "sub par" for normal lutherie wood, but the project made this one a no brainer for me. I have a very close relationship with my grandfather and seeing where his heart was with this project really hit home with me.
So I traveled up to his place to dig through the piles of rough lumber and burls. He originally wanted solid burled walnut back & sides, but the burls were too small and filled with defects that made them unstable for such important parts. Instead, I assured him that I would work in the burl in as many accent places as I could. When I left his place, I had a car full of large boards of walnut, burls, and little bit of quartersawn white oak.
He had insisted that the guitars be as close to identical as possible, so I carefully resawed the walnut so as to be able to get both guitars' back & sides from the same billet. Throughout the process I often held the guitars next to one another to transfer the location of one detail to the other.
I am extremely happy with how these guitars turned out. It was a very rewarding process and one that I am proud to have been a part of. The draw of lutherie for me is the ability to take a tree that has been cut down and give it new life. This project went one step further and allowed me to be a part of something so much larger than myself.
