Interesting book find at library!

I came across this at the local library when I was browsing last week. It's a book written by Allen St John called 'Clapton's Guitar - Watching Wayne Henderson build the perfect instrument'.

I'd never heard of Wayne Henderson before but it seems like he's pretty well known as both a first class luthier and bluegrass guitar picker.

It's a fascinating read, going into great detail on the processes involved in hand crafting a quality instrument. It seems a shame that Mr Henderson doesn't build more of these as the book makes them sound like each of his instruments is as good if not better than the very best vintage Martins, etc.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in acoustic guitars and the art of making them.

It's a truly great book. St. John manages to make the process of acquiring and building guitars suspenseful, while it could be very dry and technical.

This has come up a few times before, and the author is even a member here who posts occasionally.

Yes, it's certainly an interesting read - never dull or monotonous in its detailed descriptions of the processes involved.

And the point seems to be that Wayne Henderson's guitars aren't overly expensive - relative to high end Martins and Gibsons - despite all the care and attention that goes into them. He obviously builds them for people who love to play them rather than collectors who are looking to them as investments.

He should be a US national treasure!!!

Yes, it's certainly an interesting read - never dull or monotonous in its detailed descriptions of the processes involved.

And the point seems to be that Wayne Henderson's guitars aren't overly expensive - relative to high end Martins and Gibsons - despite all the care and attention that goes into them. He obviously builds them for people who love to play them rather than collectors who are looking to them as investments.

He should be a US national treasure!!!




I wonder how much folks are paying for his guitars now. That book was written something like 10 years ago, I think.


I think the gubbmint came as close to making him a national treasure as they could by giving him grant money to build his shop.

I bought a copy for a luthier friend who made me a 000-EC inspired guitar. Read the first few pages before giving it to him and had to buy another copy for myself! I ended up contacting Mr. St. John throught this site and he replied to my 'fan' letter immedietly, and even asked to see pictures of my guitar. I thought it was a great read, and I've passed it on to many friends.

I'v only just finished reading it and I'm going to start again cos it was so enjoyable!

It was almost like watching your favourite movie or listening to your favourite record (on vinyl of course) - it left me with a nice pleasant feeling - a very positive read.

The only thing that I was slightly disappointed in was his description of his meeting with Lee Dickson when he collected the guitar for EC. It seemed as if it was a bit of an anti-climax. I would have thought that EC could have found the time to meet up with him given that he seemed to be so enthusiastic about the guitar in the first place. Just seemed a bit of a let down somehow.

Whether that was how Mr St John felt at the time or not I don't know but that was my impression from the final chapter.

But otherwise, a fantastic book about a great character.

I too love the book. I've had conversations with Mr. St John here. Real nice guy!!

Wayne Henderson;
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i read it a while back and found it delightful, except for shameful envy -- wishing i could go through the same process for my own custom guitar!

Mule egg - Hah!

Yes, the book has been discussed here before (by me for one).

Wayne's flat picking festival was just last weekend:

http://www.waynehenderson.org/

A friend at work who plays went this year.
I'm planning to go next year.


I wonder how much folks are paying for his guitars now. That book was written something like 10 years ago, I think.



?
The book was published in 2005.



It seemed as if it was a bit of an anti-climax. I would have thought that EC could have found the time to meet up with him given that he seemed to be so enthusiastic about the guitar in the first place. Just seemed a bit of a let down somehow.



SPOILER ALERT:
I asked a reliable source who knows and does business with EC and according to him, Clapton has never played the guitar.

"SPOILER ALERT:
I asked a reliable source who knows and does business with EC and according to him, Clapton has never played the guitar."

If that's true then it's a damn shame cos there was so much attention and love put into it. It deserves to be played and I would have thought that EC would have at least had the courtesy to let Wayne Henderson know what he thought of it. The whole episode was supposed to have been initiated by him enthusing over another Henderson instrument way back in 1994.

I know that EC has a busy life, etc etc and one more guitar to him is probably not as big a deal as it would be to anyone else. But he doesn't strike me as the sort of person who would just ignore something like this.

But then again, the last chapter of the book kind of hints at that. So who knows...........

I bought the book to read about a Craftsman, not Clapton.

I'll try to keep a look out for that one
well thats one thing about living out here in the country
god i miss libraries

I've read this book twice and was so envious to get me a nice acoustic guitar made with Adirondack spruce top that I hit the guitar shops here in Montreal and found my Boucher dreadnought, handmade here in Quebec, Canada by this company (Boucher) who cut and sell Adirondack spruce top for the big ones (martin, gibson, etc). They make about 500 guitars a year.

A wonderful instrument made by nice people (the president of the company answers the e-mail himself).

www.boucherguitars.com

P.-S. I've written to Allen and he told me that he didn't know if Clapton ever played the guitar and this makes me angry because he went to such lenght to give him the guitar. And Allen got his own guitar by Henderson. But I didn't see any pictures of it. I which he posted some here...

I just finished the book and thought it was great. Like many posters above, it's gotten me GASsing for an old-school acoustic. Grrrrrr!! I'm giving a copy of the book to my brother-in-law for his birthday.