Mr Guitar

projects. But when he started working in automotive machining and fitting and turning Steve moved away from the material. For as long as he can remember he’s worked on his own instruments, and in the 1970s began repairing them for other people. This gradually led to making his first guitar in 1989, now hanging up in his workshop.

‘‘Coming back to wood was pretty exciting for me,’’ Steve says. ‘‘I still get fired up with chunks of wood. It’s our only renewable resource; it’s wonderful stuff.’’ At first it was a hobby, but he pursued it fulltime when finding another job was difficult after being made redundant in 1998. Since then Steve has made over 200 stringed instruments,