If there was the slighted question mark in my mind about this guitar it was the use of Tasmanian Blackwood on the back and sides. I’ve had limited joy with guitars made of this wood in the past but this…
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Mar 24 2023
Mar 24 2023
If there was the slighted question mark in my mind about this guitar it was the use of Tasmanian Blackwood on the back and sides. I’ve had limited joy with guitars made of this wood in the past but this…
Read moreMar 24 2023
It’s been a while since I last featured one of Rosie Heydenrych’s guitars on my channel - in the meantime she has continued to refine the sound and details of her beautiful instruments and this latest Turnstone guitars is one…
Read moreMay 5 2022
Do you have a love/hate relationship with certain tone woods? I have to admit that I do, and in particular the more vitreous members of the rosewood family can be hard work for me.
If there is one wood that…
Read moreJan 22 2022
I am regularly asked for my thoughts on the differences between acoustic guitars from the USA and the UK and rather than get bogged down in minutiae I find that a direct comparison is often the most useful way to…
Read moreOct 10 2021
It's always a joy to spend time with my friend John Stubbings - John is the author of one of the most beautiful books on the acoustic guitar that I have ever read The Devil Is In it - if…
Read moreFeb 26 2021
Ordering your first custom guitar is an incredibly exciting experience as well as a considerable investment in time, emotions and money. With this video I want to give you the tools to get it right by asking the sort of…
Read moreFeb 17 2021
This is a question I am often asked - how much does the signature style of a guitar maker differ? Well, I just filmed two instruments by Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars with contrasting personalities that still retain the Turnstone…
Read moreDec 12 2020
British guitarist Martin Simpson is more than just an award-winning internationally successful musician. He is, to my mind, pretty much the epicentre of the modern luthier-built acoustic guitar scene on both sides of the Atlantic.
In fact, I'll go one…
Read moreDec 3 2020
When electric guitar renegade Matte Henderson recommends a guitar builder to me I sit up and take notice! The man has impeccable taste and many of the instruments he has commissioned are pretty much exactly what I would have chosen…
Read moreNov 21 2020
Since I uploaded the latest video in my Michael Watts Plays... series I have received several messages asking for more details about Bog Oak (and its many other names).
A Bog Oak guitar yesterday
In this latest episode of my…
Read moreNov 19 2020
I have spent an enjoyable couple of days in the company of this OMC model by British luthier Jamie Swannell.
That's quite fetching isn't it?
This is the first example of Jamie's work that I've played and I'm grateful…
Read moreNov 11 2020
Long-term readers will be well aware that I need very little excuse to spend some time with a Turnstone guitar. As such I was very happy to be asked to review one of Rosie Heydenrych's E series (all English…
Read moreOct 8 2020
Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars can always be relied upon to bring me something I've never played before and in this case it's a gorgeous TM model in the fashionable Bearclaw Alpine Spruce but also, apple!
And why not? Apple…
Read moreJul 24 2020
I have had the pleasure of playing several beautiful Taran guitars over the years but one model has been on my list for a while - The Oreval. This is Rory Dowling's biggest guitar and I was intrigued to find…
Read moreJul 23 2020
I've been thinking about redwood, I've been thinking about tone, I've been thinking about Koa and the world's biggest necklace etc... Apologies to the great Bob Dylan there...
Seriously though - Redwood can divide opinion amongst fingerstyle guitarists and over…
Read moreJul 9 2020
The latest issue of The Guitar Magazine features my review of an instrument by Ciaran McNally - Check it out, I hope you'll enjoy it!
It's very pretty...
Until next time, Stay Tuned!
Michael
May 19 2020
Redwood, and in particular Sinker Redwood, has grown to prominence in the past couple of decades as an alternative soundboard wood for acoustic guitars and I regularly field queries about my thoughts on its use as a soundboard wood. As…
Read moreApr 1 2020
The first series of Luthier Stories took me all over the world from Texas and California to South Africa, Scotland and Surrey! It's been a blast, as well as a thinly veiled excuse to hang out with some very dear…
Read moreFeb 21 2020
One of the joys of a visit to the Turnstone Guitars workshop is a cup of tea and a chat with Rosie Heydenrych, the luthier behind all these beautiful instruments.
This time we filmed it (it's been a while!) as…
Read moreFeb 10 2020
It's always a pleasure to visit Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars - all the more so because I can be pretty sure that due to her constant explorations of English woods she'll have something for me to play that I've…
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