Wilson Burnham Guitars

Shining and gracious in youth, gigantic and glorious in age, possessed of a fragrant wood of great beauty and scores of the most valuable uses, the Port Orford Cedar has but one defect with which it can be reproached: there isn't - and never has been - enough of it! Donald Culross Peattie, A Natural History of Western Trees , 1950 The shop hygrometer reads 54% RH, way too humid for me to be glueing rosettes into guitar tops. A big thunderstorm is moving in, I hear the rain on the roof and wonder when I will have to turn off the computer because the lightning strikes are getting too close. We need the rain, last week the daily temperatures were up in the mid 70's, that is warm for 8,500', the pine needles on the forest floor were getting crunchy and with all the "campers" coming up from the Denver metro area to camp in our backyard, Arapahoe National Forest, which borders our property, there is concern for wildfires. Not all who come to the forest believe in

...the art of knowing and working with Mother Nature's wood is one of the noblest occupations created for the development and enjoyment of human beings. Manuel Rodriguez, The Art and Craft of Making Classical Guitars , 2003 A couple of years ago I purchased two spruce tops from StewMac, the tops were Picea Glauca , aka White Spruce, Canada Spruce, Black Hills Spruce, I wish I had bought more. It is amazing tone wood. This guitar sings, it has a beautiful voice with sustain. The spruce top is flexible enough that this guitar plays like a guitar with a cedar top, it is almost effortless. The back and sides are African Rosewood, also known as bubinga, again, this is superior tone wood. I understand that Hermann Hauser II liked bubinga better than Indian rosewood. The back as a fillet of Macassar Ebony. The fret board is Macassar Ebony, the bridge is Indian rosewood. The guitar is fitted with Gotoh tuners and the strings are Savarez New Cristal Corum 500CR. These are now

Wilson Burnham - Guitars From The Road Less Travelled Two roads diverge in the current guitar woods: We live in an era where guitarists and luthiers seek ergonomic innovation, a quest for unending volume and countless new ideas. Sadly and all too often these factors wind up creating unmet long term expectations and command prices out of the reach of the developing guitar artist. Not all luthiers follow the same road. One such individual is the superb Colorado based luthier, Wilson Burnham. He has built his guitars and his lifestyle upon the road less travelled by. Wilson's guitars reflect beauty, clarity, simplicity, elegant craftsmanship, superb balance and great playability. His instruments harken back to an earlier age. Upon my recommendation, many of my current students have purchased Wilson's guitars and have performed extensively on them. Reminiscent of the guitars of Torres, Santos Hernandez and Hauser, you owe it to yourself to try his instruments and