The AG series are one of a kind guitars and this one is no exception. I named this innovative design "The Apache" because I thought the striped body pattern created by the different woods looked very Native American. I added feathers and beads tied to a leather cord on the body at the strap nut to complete the Native American look.

It is a very thin guitar; measuring only 1.25 inches thick at the thickest point in the body. The piezo pickup system gives it an acoustic sound when plugged in.

The Orion is the first of the AG (Art Guitar) Series. It actually became the inspiration for creating the series. I carved it out of a single block of cherry that was originally purchased as part of a lot for making harps. Because of a rather large knot, the board was deemed useless and was discarded for several years. One day, While my cousin was visiting, we took the piece out and designed this guitar around the rather large knot. The unusual shape was created from having to cut around the knot and from inspiration from the unusually shaped instruments of Star Trek.

This guitar was the product of a Christmas gift competition with my wife's family. We had to produce a gift for under $25 and I drew my brother-in-law's name. He is, of course, a guitar player. I always wanted to make a guitar out of plywood - just to see if I could make it work, so I used this opportunity to do it.

The guitar body is made of two layers of 3/4" oak ply, the pickguard is made from 1/8" birch ply. The neck is laminated walnut and the fingerboard is oak. The guitar is fretless, but I cut fret position markers into the fingerboard. The pickup is hand-wound with a birch ply top.

Total cost to build - $19 and some change!

I mail-ordered some blueprints that I used to make this banjo with. It is a solid wood instrument made from walnut and cherry. My father is the man in the picture playing it. I also made one like it from cherry and paduk for him.

If rock and roll existed in the 16th century, this would be the instrument it would have been played on. The cittern was the instrument of street minstrels. It had some interesting features like the ugly head on the back of the headstock. The Queen’s head was often carved on the front of the headstock and the instrument was usually hung from the headstock when it wasn’t in use. Since it would have probably been considered treason (or at the least disrespect) to hang a noose around the Queen’s head, early luthiers developed a means around this by carving an ugly face on the backside with a hook for a nose.

I made this piece, almost entirely, from figured maple. The soundboard is spruce and the pegs are pear wood.