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WELCOME TO STILWELL GUITARS

Hand Crafted Guitars 

Made To Order

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Driven and inspired by sound.  I aim to produce beautiful guitars, starting first with the sound.  Everything else flows from there.

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I really enjoy playing my Stilwell Guitar. Here are a few things

that impress me.

1. The volume, the guitar is significantly louder than

most classical guitars.

2. The reverberation, it almost sounds like the guitar

is amplified, this aspect makes the instrument fun and inspiring to play.

3. The Instrument sings evenly in all registers, it has warmth, fullness 

and presence in each single note, in the bass, mid-range and treble. 

Even with the increased volume the guitar is well balanced and

the harmonic voices are singing evenly.


The breakthrough here lies in the the increased potential for dynamic

range, because of the larger voice and sound volume, one can play

from pianissimo to fortissimo on a classical guitar in ways that is not

normally possible.

One of the most important aspects of a guitar for me is a full tone and

richness of the high E string, and the Stilwell guitar has that covered.


All these qualities make this guitar dynamic, alive and musical, combined with

a well balanced sound, the Stilwell guitar has all the attributes of a great

modern classical guitar.

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Andre Feriante / Guitarist, Composer

GUITARS IN WORK

Guitar 9 is finished.  It's the first of my smaller body shape with a shorter 635mm scale length that I'm calling 'Grand Parlor'.  Here are some glamour shots followed by an interesting comparison shot showing the relative size compared to my full size concert model.  After that a few pics of the guitar being built.

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GUITAR 5 - SOLD

Gutiar 5 is continuing to open up as I play it.  It has a full, lush sound with plenty of overtones and harmonic complexity. A lot of volume and nice voice separation.  The basses are nicely focused, strong, and project well.  Despite the backwards video it is a right handed guitar. ;-)  The neck has a flattened D shape that is very comfortable to play. 

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Details: 

European Spruce Top 

Indian Rosewood Back and  Doubled Sides

Ebony Fingerboard

Port Orford Cedar Neck

650 mm scale length

52mm Nut with 42mm string spacing

57mm string spacing at 12 hole Bridge

20th Fret

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Price: $2,500.00

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BACKGROUND

How I Got Started

I grew up with classical music all around me.  My mother played the Violin, my father the Cello, my grandfather the Viola; all in symphony orchestras.  I attended a performing arts school where I played trumpet.  Then I decided to do something totally different and became a mechanical engineer.  I've always been keenly interested in how and why things work, and this career satisfied that interest, but ultimately music was lacking in my life.  Searching for a new instrument to learn I discovered the classical guitar and stared taking lessons.  

I absolutely fell in love with the sound of the classical guitar, and the variations in sound a great instrument can produce. I was inspired by recordings of Julian Bream, Jason Vieaux, Andres Segovia and David Russell.  I played every guitar I could, searching for the sound I wanted to produce and came across some very good guitars that all sounded different from one another.  The engineer in me wanted to understand why the guitars sounded different and to learn more about how guitars are made. 

Three years in to exploring this new found passion, I stopped taking lessons and started devoting my time to making guitars. Working with Rick Davis of Running Dog Guitars, I built my first classical guitar.  I was immediately hooked.  Now my guitar hobby had become a passionate obsession.  I read everything I could get my hands on about building guitars, attended luthier conventions, and joined the Guild of American Luthiers. My quest for knowledge led me to Robert O'Brien, who helped me hone my skills. After building two more guitars at home,  I traveled to Spain and spent a month building my 4th guitar with master luthier Stephen Hill at the European Institute of Guitar Making using traditional Spanish construction techniques.  

Now I am dedicated to pursuing guitar making full time. My passion for creating beautiful instruments is driven by the sound and variations in sound I want to create.  My background in music and engineering give me the resources to get there.  

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SHOP HOURS

Come Visit

I'm in my shop most weekdays from 9 am till late afternoon, but have kids and need to run errands etc.  So you're welcome to drop by but will have to contact me to make an appointment.

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GET IN TOUCH

Snohomish, WA

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