I’ve worked over forty years accumulating fine hand tools and vintage equipment and building my skills in many disciplines so that I could produce stringed instruments, wood carvings, and art objects of unusual quality.
My work is done in the Old World manner; by hand and eye. I do all my own drawings and designing to produce beautiful pieces that are timeless and reflect my unique vision. Inlays are hand cut with a jeweler’s saw from precious mother of pearl and abalone. Inlays can be engraved to add visual interest to a piece. I’m known for finely detailed heel carvings, hand carved with palm chisels. I like to inscribe Bible Verses around the rims of solid body guitars. I often use hammered metal parts and hand fabricated tail pieces to create a motif for a one-of-a-kind art piece.I have a painting technique that allows me to nail the likeness of a person and encapsulate it in the finish for my Tribute Guitars. These are techniques that it’s taken a life time to develop.
Some of the guitars shown here were created at the Gibson Custom Division where I was Master Luthier / Designer and creator of Art Guitars for many years. The photos you see are of pieces that I made and were sold to collectors. Those collectors of my work kindly shared their personal photo files or loaned me their guitars to have them photographed. I give photo credit to each of them and their photographers and wish to thank them for not only buying my work but supporting my ongoing career.
If there is some special project you have in mind, maybe we could start a dialogue and begin to design a piece that would give life to your idea. That is what the,”Heart of” series is about. I have done the Heart of the Pacific, the Heart of New York, the Hummingbird’s Heart, and many others, all based around my Heart Shaped sound hole Kunkel Guitars.
Nashville Art Magazine – The Return of the Art Guitar
