Luthier's Workshop

Kathy DeMers in the workshop working magic with french polish

Living and working in Pacific Grove is an inspired life

I built my first guitar in 2018, and since then I have completed 20 commissioned instruments for students, professionals, family, and friends. Finding time to build is always a challenge, but a welcome one. Teaching takes precedence, yet this is a season in my life where building and teaching support one another in unexpectedly perfect ways.

A recent highlight was traveling to Hawaii with my family to deliver a guitar to its new owner, a longtime student I teach via Zoom. It was a reminder that classical guitar brings people together in ways that go far beyond music. This work has given my family a rich and meaningful life, filled with connection, purpose, and possibility.

My wife Kathy is quickly becoming a master of French polish. Her preferred medium is still oil paint and canvas, but her artistic instincts translate beautifully to guitar finishing. The countless hours that go into shaping and polishing an instrument teach lessons that reach far beyond woodworking. With every guitar, something improves: a curve, a brace, a tone, a subtle detail invisible to most. Mastery is simply the pursuit of getting better, one instrument at a time.

As a luthier, you are also an innovator. There is no single diagram or textbook that tells you how to build the perfect guitar. The only guarantee is that in doing the work, you learn what cannot be taught any other way. You may admire the guitars built by others, you may study their designs, but once you make the first cut, your own voice begins. And that is where the artist emerges.