I know it's a stolen one liner
("The Search is Over"), but it may be more applicable when
talking about a guitar than a woman (as the song suggested). For more
than 35 years I have been strumming guitar strings and during
the course that time I began to notice that finding the right
guitar ( the one that sounded right, felt right, looked right and
put hearts in my eyes every time I thought about it ) was all but
impossible to find no matter how much money I forked over. Sure,
I have owned some nice guitars but only a couple of them made me feel
like I wasn't having to settle for less than what I really wanted,
and they were both hand made.
Several years ago I decided
that I would try my hand at making guitars and quickly found
out how expensive that could be. Between the cost of good supplies,
special tools and weeding through bad information, the task at hand
almost overwhelmed me. To help cover expenses I began cutting and
selling guitar wood to other builders, I had no idea that this would
lay the foundation for my success as a luthier. Having been
a supplier to some of the most prolific guitar builders in the
world (www.beachtonewood.com), I have been fortunate enough to store
away ( for Hawkins Guitars ) some of the absolute finest tonewoods
available anywhere.
Learning the secrets of wood has been
critical in my development as a guitar maker and I could never
have come this far without the years of friendship and help
of my good friend Steve Roberson (www.colonialtonewoods.com), who
has shared the depth of his knowlege as a wood expert and luthier,
and I also have to credit another good friend Doug Myers (www.myspace.com/resohook), his
countless hours of input have helped me to become the builder that
I am today. These two gentlemen are friends and mentors of the highest
caliber and I am thankful and proud to have them as friends.
I am Brian Hawkins and I build the Hawkins Guitar. Hawkins Guitars
are hand crafted, custom built guitars made to bring out the player
in you, and make your spouse jealous. Hawkins guitars are now the
prefered choice of Lewis McGehee.
