Mikulov Festival

Mikulov, CZ has become one of my favorite festivals and all-around happy places. The people are the best and it's absolutely beautiful. I was only able to stay for 2 days this year and still managed to see concerts by Nigel North and Bireli Lagrene, masterclasses with Nigel North and Pavel Steidl, guitar presentation with Petra Polackova, lecture with Enrica Savigny, amazing wine tasting and caught up with many guitar friends and colleagues.

Robert Ruck Shop and Project

About 13 years ago, I traveled down to Eugene to learn from Robert Ruck; this was a meaningful and important part of my development as a guitar maker. In 2016, right about when I was moving to Austria, we started corresponding about the possibility of inheriting his guitar making “paraphernalia”, as he put it, and helping to carry on his legacy. It was a hectic time for both of us and after his passing, I didn’t really think it would ever happen. However, recently the subject came up again and I just spent the last week in Sturgeon Bay with Cheri Ruck and my best guitar building buddy Max Sipe sorting through his things and packing them up to move.

There is still a LOT to go through and process. I plan on documenting as much of his methods and tools as possible, as well as studying and making plans of a handful of his important instruments, so that other guitar makers can benefit from some of his ideas and years of work. I also have several of his unfinished guitars that I will be slowly assembling and finishing. This is going to be a slow process. I will be reaching out to people I already know, but if you have known Robert and would like to contribute stories, anecdotes, photos or whatever, please feel free to contact me (preferably by email and not social media). I have a lot to catch up on, so I may be slow to respond!

Here are some photos of the trip and some of the things I managed to bring back right away. Thanks so much to Cheri, Max, my family and other friends that came to meet us and help. This was such an amazing week!

Roman Viazovskiy

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is meeting great musicians from all over the world. It was a pleasure and honor to deliver these guitars to my dear friends Roman Viazovskiy and Theo Krings. It was a whirlwind 24 hour trip, but a good time was had. We were well fed as always - good food, good wine and great company. Roman has become a close friend and somewhat of an advisor over the years and I've always been grateful for his input and opinion. Here is a short performance of The Forgotten Island by Konstantin Vassiliev, who I was also fortunate enough to meet on this trip, if only briefly; I've become a big fan of his compositions in recent years.

A Fun Lecture for Johannes Brahms Musikschule Mürzzuschlag

A couple days ago, I received a bus full of students from the Johannes Brahms Musikschule Mürzzuschlag - a record 15 people in the shop at once! I gave a lecture and demonstration on classical guitar building. It was great to meet so many interested guitarists and to even put some of the younger ones to work . Thanks to everyone that came and especially Francesca Agostinis for organizing the whole thing!

Romanillos Tribute at the Antwerp Guitar Festival

I was extremely honoured to be part of this special tribute to one of the greatest guitar makers of our time, José Romanillos. In addition to his building, he and his wife are inspiring with their research, generosity and dedication to the instrument. Many many thanks to Jan Depreter for his beautiful performance and organisation, as well as the team at the Antwerp Guitar Festival and Siccas guitars.