Guitar geeks often get inspired by trying out new guitars. You play a different instrument and your mind goes into overdrive thinking of all of the possibilities that having that instrument could provide. This phenomenon is quite common amongst guitar lovers, but there are those rare moments when an instrument actually takes your breath away and leaves a mark on your guitar geek heart…
Allen St. John had that very moment… he heard a guitar and it took his breath away. Since there was not ample oxygen to get words to physically come out of his mouth he went ahead and created a book celebrating his journey into the guitar geek abyss.
Allen happens to be a New York Times bestselling author… he also happens to be a guitar geek… he also happened to find himself ordering a custom guitar from an under the radar luthier who built a guitar for Eric Clapton (amongst many other amazing players).
Allen ordered a custom guitar from luthier Wayne Henderson and that action alone started his documentation of the process. The result of this is a book written from the custom guitar buyers perspective and the thoughts shared will likely surprise you.
This book chronicles the author’s guitar being made along with observations and lessons learned about how a physical object can capture so many emotions and have a story of its own. Along with the personification of the guitar, St. John, also delves a bit into Wayne Henderson’s building approach and his philosophy on building, which is driven by an incredible passion for making beautiful instruments along with a taste for homemade pie.
I just started this book and I have to say that, as a self-proclaimed guitar geek, I am enjoying it thoroughly. The author, Allen St. John, clearly knows how to speak guitar geek-ese, and through the documenting of his custom guitar experience he takes you on an informative ride both about the guitar in addition to the emotions and feelings that go along with watching an instrument being built from scratch.
Clapton’s Guitar Book Links
“Clapton’s Guitar” is the most romantic book I’ve ever ready about the guitar. The journey St. John takes you on has you right there in Henderson’s shop in rural Rugby, VA, allowing you to ease drop on the character that is Wayne Henderson, and his singular approach to build one of a kind instruments. Interesting factoid – at one point in his career Wayne worked at Gruhn Guitars, repairing pre-war Martins, as well as other vintage instruments. He was also a mailman in his home town while building guitars. The book is well worth the read.
His daughter, Elizabeth Jayne Henderson, is also a builder, specializing in small body guitars and ukuleles. She is living proof that talent runs in the family. Like her dad, she does amazing inlay work. I own one of her guitars (an OM) and have another being built right now, a 00-42. I’m traveling from Texas to their shop to pick it up when it’s ready (just so I can hang with them both). It should be quite the road trip.