My first custom build; Edwinson Lutherie

[redcrow]

I just got off the phone with Steve Sheriff at Edwinson Guitars. We spent the better part of an hour discussing what I'm looking for and what he can do to make my dream come true. I'm as excited as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I truly enjoy talking to him. He's a wise and articulate man. We've pretty much agreed on the guitar's woods and configuration. I sent him a deposit and he'll be getting started on my guitar in a couple weeks. He's going to be maintaining a sort of photographic diary of the build which I'll be sharing here. Stay tuned...

[Nemoman]

Redcrow--you're in good hands with Steve!

An awesome luthier and a wonderful human...

Enjoy the ride--I'll be following for sure!

[RTaylor58]

I just received my first ever custom build from Steve / Edwinson on Oct 11th. It is nothing short of amazing!

The craftsmanship is just beautiful. And I can’t begin to say enough good things about the tone. Every day it seems to blossom over night into a new, even fuller and more satisfying sound. Steve told me this would happen but it is still a great surprise each day[emoji4]

Mine is his Performance model, cocobolo / adi, multiscale.

Steve is a super guy and you are in for a wonderful experience!

[mikealpine]

I’ve got an Edwinson, and it’s awesome, as is the human who built it! You’re going to love working with him. Can’t wait to see what you two have come up with.

[TomB'sox]

I will echo everyone else here, Steve is a great guy and will build you a legacy guitar that you will really love.

[Aspiring]

One more pile on. I have a lovely Performance. The Performance he had at the B.I.G show was one of my favorites at the show.

Congrats on your build you are in good hands.

[Guitars44me]

How FUN!!!

Steve is a lovely gentleman and builds awesome guitars.

Looking forward to your build posts….

Enjoy the thrill ride!

Paul

[KevinH]

That's exciting redcrow. I'll look forward to the deets.

[redcrow]

Thanks for all your input. It's really serendipitous that I "found" Steve. I happened upon the reference to Edwinson Guitars as I was browsing the sponsor listing in this forum. Don't quite know why it drew my attention, but the site itself and the guitars displayed was awesome. I paid particular attention to it's "About" and "Design Philosophy" section. What emerged was the profile of a man who truly loves making fine guitars and whose personality is a marvelous fit to mine. I decided then and there that this was the luthier I wanted to build my forever guitar. So I emailed him only to discover that his site was by his description "a dusty old relic that hadn't been updated in nearly a decade. He's apparently not making as many instruments as since he moved back to Alabama. What followed was a series of exchanges during which 1) I could feel a growing rapport between us, and 2) I just might be able to persuade him to build me a guitar. By this time, I'd seen a couple of his works with quilted maple back and sides with beautiful Adirondack Spruce. They were GORGEOUS!!

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=543303

Steve said he had a few more sets of the same wood and he'd like to build another guitar using them.



Then came the job of convincing my darling wife to let me access some of our savings to pursue this dream. God! I love that woman. She surprised me by saying she understood clearly how much this meant to me, and that the changes she's seen in me since I've regain my love of making music made it worthwhile for her too.

So yesterday, Steve and I hatched this plan. I wanted a standard performance model with a fairly conventional neck configuration and that quilted maple for body and sides. The bindings will be Zircote or EIR. The face and back plates of the asymmetrical delta head stock will be book matched maple bound with the same wood as the rest of the guitar. I was trying to come up with a design that would keep the guitar's price at or near his base. So I'd begged off on any side ports, but Steve said he felt they were essential to getting the tone of his guitars just right and that he'd throw 2 ports in at no additional cost. What a man!! Long story short, I gave him complete artistic control to do whatever he thought he could manage for the money I was offering.

By the time I got off the phone, was soooo excited! Not only was my dream guitar becoming a reality, but I'd made a wonderful friend in the process. I'm still pinching myself

In a few days, he's going to send me some pictures of the maple sets he has available for me to pick from and some tops to look at as well. He said he though he had some bear claw Spruce kicking around, so we'll see.

We're shooting for delivery around April/May next year (fingers grossed) and I'll keep a running account of the build (with pix, of course) here.

[Lonzo]

Hi redcrow,

I am happy both for you and Steve!
I have one his guitars- bought used and love it. You are in for a fabulous instrument ! ..- and - as I am sure without a doubt - a deep and rewarding discourse about many things besides the ones related to your guitar.
I am a fan of maple 🍁 as well and what Steve has at hand still apparently is visually very striking.

Looking forward to what‘s coming !

Enjoy the ride.. it is a wonderful ride and process of thinking, comparing, deciding, doubting and so on and so on….closest to what- as a child - I was experiencing when having to wait for sth special, like ie Christmas… and similar as you will receive something wonderful !
Enjoy it, as you will miss it once it‘s all done…. Until you start again maybe.
Has happened before (to me) and legions of others…

Have fun !

[redcrow]

Lonzo and company,

So far, this experience has been almost surreal in the best possible sense. So many layers of unexpected synchronicity. Finding Steve in the first place was a complete accident, and then discovering just how easily we fell into a friendship that transcends guitars was amazing. I'm usually pretty reserved, but I just felt completely at ease with him very early on. We have a lot of attitudinal and philosophical common ground.

Now don't laugh, but tossing ideas back and forth with him yesterday such a treat. So many times he anticipated my thinking, it was as though we were brothers from different mothers. You'd have thought he was building this guitar for himself.

So now comes the hard part; waiting. Actually I don't think it'll be too bad simply because I know Steve be keeping me appraised of his progress along the way. But still... It's going to be hard to strum anything without Jones'ing really bad for some Maple

[TomB'sox]

Steve has come to every B.I.G. show that we have held and always brings beautiful instruments and his kind soul along. You will become friends during this process and although you are chomping at the bit to have the guitar, the build process is so much fun to watch, you will be sad when that is over...but then you get a guitar in the end.

[islandguitar]

This will be fun to follow along and I'm so pleased you found the right guy! Your writing reminds me of my time with Tom Doerr and my build in '13/14. We really hit it off and the process was much as you describe with Steve. What's important is that the relationship need not end when the guitar is finished. Tom and I remained in touch for years afterward almost to the time of his passing (RIP).

Have fun and enjoy!!

[cigarfan]

Congrats on your new commission! You picked a real winner for your build! Enjoy the journey as it is one of my favorite parts of a new guitar. Looking forward to following here all along the way!

[theEdwinson]

Hello, everyone!
Yet again, I've disappeared from the AGF radar screen for awhile, and I need to catch up a bit. What a nice surprise this morning to find this new post, by my new friend Bert, for whom I will be making a very cool EPS Performance Standard guitar, with some spectacular quilted Western Bigleaf Maple, and an as yet undetermined species of spruce for the top. I'm really looking forward to this project, and I promised Bert that I would maintain an ongoing photographic record of the build, so we can show you guys this new project.

I want to say also, I did feel an instant kinship with Bert when these conversations began. I recognized a man of great erudition and eloquence, and a kind and gentle soul who has discovered the deeper truths of a life well lived, and a deep appreciation for the sometimes staggering extravagance of the beauty in the natural world. (I mean- wait till you see this quilted Maple!)

This project we're soon embarking on is a longtime dream of Bert's, seemingly out of reach, but because of the simpatico we've struck up, I feel compelled to help him actualize that dream in the best way possible, and still keep it well within reach.

I am deeply touched by all the kind and generous comments from my friends here on the AGF. I will attempt mightily to not disabuse you of the notion that I can actually live up to all of your heartwarming appraisals of me and my work. Heh heh, if the walls here could talk, and you heard what I'm REALLY like, you might wonder if we're talking about the same person! I'll just keep that cat in the bag for now.

I'm also going to dig up the thread I started about three months ago, and post some studio photos of Ron's EP-SC Performance multiscale guitar, that he's had in hand for about three weeks now. Ron has told me several times that his new guitar keeps getting better every day. That is so gratifying to hear. So, I will cut to the chase and post some photos of the finished instrument, tomorrow morning, while I'm soaking up some coffee.
Thanks so much to everyone on this Forum for being alive on Earth, and for being who you are!