Wilson Burnham Guitars

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. John Muir My wife and I got to the St. Vrain Mountain trailhead at 8am yesterday morning so we could hike up to the saddle between Meadow Mountain and St. Vrain Mountain. The trailhead is four miles from our house by road, three miles as the crow flies. It took us about 2 hours to reach the saddle, here is the view. We're about 11,300 feet in elevation at this point. Mt. Audubon is 13,223 feet tall. This is the view that you get to see when I'm not in the way: Mount Audubon, the biggest mountain in the center of the photo. Moving right is Paiute Peak, then Sawtooth Mountain. I've lived and worked in some gorgeous places-Montana, Utah, Arizona, Yosemite National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park and Rocky Mountain National Park, but I have to tell you, this view beats all. On the way back down the hill, about a mile from the trailhead we almost ran into this young bull moose. He was less than 30

Here's a link to my friend Ben Hesse's benjaminrhesse mixed media and printmaking blog . He recently posted about working on the Ronald McDonald Cabin (yes, really, the Ronald McDonald Cabin!) at Betasso Open Space. Brian Bartel and I are teaching this wonderful young man the ways of historic preservation, he's a fast learner, and if he sticks with it he will be a vital part of the historic preservation community. Ben is a wonderfully talented folk/old-timey musician, printmaker and all around silver belt buckle caliber artist. Check out his work, some of his woodcut prints are amazing! Ben's photo of the cabin, see more at his blog!

No matter how simple a thing of wood, it is scarcely possible to put two sticks together decently without using a plane. Aldren A. Watson, Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings , 1982 Today, I ripped a piece of Spanish cedar in two (yes, with a hand rip saw), planed and jointed it down until both surfaces matched perfectly. Then I glued in a piece of ebony, a la Jose Ramirez III, this 10 string guitar's neck will have the Ramirez "racing stripe". After gluing up the pieces I kind of wish that I had jointed together two pieces of cedar that were a little wider than these, to give myself a little wiggle room. As it is I've left myself a little more then a 1/16th of an inch on either side of the neck outline. I may have to save this neck for a six string and buy some more cedar and make another neck. Or, I can step up to the plate and hold myself to a higher level of craftsmanship and use this neck, all I have to do is be very meticulous and careful. I'm real

While posing to illustrate the importance of maintaining the face of teh guitar on a vertical plane, Segovia interrupted for a moment. "Bobri," he said, tapping his paunch, "caution the students to curb their appetites. Otherwise, like me, they will have difficulty in leaning sufficiently forward." Vladimir Borbi, The Segovia Technique , 1972 I finally got around to buying new chip breakers for my 2 favorite planes: a Stanley No.7 jointer plane and a No. 3 smoothing plane. Both planes sport Hock blades, carbon steel for me, the jointer has a Hock chip breaker and the smoother has a chip breaker from Lee Valley. I am quite impressed, I have never had planes work so well, all chatter is gone, as far as I can tell. I had no problem planing a piece of ebony this afternoon, the planes literally sing through the wood. These chip breakers are well worth the money. Do yourself a favor and upgrade to thicker plane irons and chip breakers! The top chisel is not ne

To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time. Leonard Bernstein Rob Reid of classicalguitartraining.com interviewed me via email. The interview can be found here . Rob found my blog and was intrigued by the fact that I don't use power tools to make classical guitars. It's amazing how many people believe that you can only build a guitar with a fully equipped Normite shop. Rob is a great guy and we hope to do another interview with Skype. Rob has posted interviews with some young up and coming classic guitar artists, one of my favorites is Simon Powis. So, get back into the shop all of you and send me photos of your latest works so I can post them!

Everyone seeks in the guitar his own twin soul.... Oscar Ghiglia, classical guitarist Most classical guitars have a split 19th fret at the sound hole. I discovered a long time ago that it was much easier to shape the frets on a dummy fret board before they are pressed home on the guitar. In this case I took a piece of cherry and matched the existed fingerboard and sound hole. I sawed a slot and then pressure fitted the frets. I grind the ends on a sandpaper disc chucked into a drill press. Finished. Now I can install them on the guitar. Here's a YouTube of David Russell, enjoy!

Cracks in eight log buildings, counting sheds and outhouse, widen and a ghost peeks out. Nothing, tree or mountain, weakens wind coming of the throat. Even wind must work when land gets old. Richard Hugo, Montana Ranch Abandoned , 1973 The mine was named "The Bluebird" because of the azurite that was found with silver ore in its shafts, adits and stopes. Chimney and Sky, Bunkhouse Mine Superintendent's Office Rail on mine dump looking south