My Background Story
I live with my wife and our two children, in the beautiful village of Pateley Bridge, Harrogate - the heart of the stunning Yorkshire Dales, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). We love this area with its wide variety of walks, including the Nidderdale Way, the stunning views and the tight-knit farming community.
When not making instruments, I enjoy playing the guitar, cycling with my sons and listening to rock, blues and folk music, plus songwriting. I’m also, always open to a bit of music trivia especially from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, particularly from those I’ve met who were there and involved at the time. More recently, I’ve been known to create music in a very wide range of styles, including the odd dance-like track on my iPad.
I was part of a number of bands as a keyboard player whilst studying for my degree but came to prefer strings. I built my first stringed instrument as a part of a degree course at York in the mid-80’s. This was an electric mandolin and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of both creating and playing. A number of electric guitars were later made in the Leeds-Bradford area, from the late 80’s through to the late 90’s. These were individually commissioned, hand made, higher-end electrics, made on a semi-professional basis.
In 2005, 4-Guitars was opened and is still running in Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire, UK. This is where available instruments are currently on display for viewing and purchase. Over the years, a lot of repair work for professional and amateur musicians has also been undertaken, as time has allowed.
Since 2009, I’ve been designing and making instruments professionally and have since created a wide variety of electric instruments of various designs and sizes. These have included guitars, bass guitars (including two string variants), bouzoukis, ukuleles, stick dulcimers, luxury cigar box guitars. I’ve also made a range of small acoustic instruments.
As a trained product designer, I tend to design quite prolifically, designing far more instruments than I ever have the time to make. Living in this beautiful part of the English countryside, my designs are inevitably inspired by my surroundings and influenced by quality vintage instruments, but with a modern twist added.
As a welcome surprise to me, some customers have in recent years revealed that their instruments are actually in-part, used as displayed artwork on feature walls of their homes or in recording studios! This is something that I hadn’t anticipated back in 2009.
Finally, I like to feel that the instruments I create, will continue to be attractive and inspiring to their users as well as potentially for generations to come.
Thanks for your continued support of my work - it’s always appreciated.