Rick Turner
Rick Turner &
Renaissance Guitars
Some men are born innovators, and Rick Turner is one of them. Whether perusing the dusty annals of rock history or "googling" the latest in sound innovation, you will find Rick Turner's name on almost every page. Another die-hard resident of Santa Cruz, California, Gourmet Guitars met Rick in his shop and got to take a peek at "wiggle wood," the "Mama Bear," and ceramic frets.
Click here for a preview of the Rick Turner feature from Volume Two of the Gourmet Guitars™ DVD Series.
(Video Clip)
There is a palpable flow of creative energy pulsing though the veins of Rick Turner & Renaissance Guitars. See what happens when a man who has memorized the rule book, just throws it away.
Kim Walker
Walker Guitars
"My designs are more evolutionary than they are revolutionary." What sounds a bit like overstated modesty is in truth the core of Kim Walker's guitar-building philosophy.
Click here for a preview of the
Kim Walker feature from Volume Two of the Gourmet Guitars™ DVD Series. (Video Clip)
If you take the best of Old World tradition and the best of modern technology, you get Walker Guitars, some of the best acoustic instruments that have ever been built. Scott Chinery evidently shared this thought when he commissioned Kim to build the "Blue Empress," an archtop destined to be included in the exclusive Blue Guitars exhibit of the Chinery Collection. Whether archtop or flat top, finger-style or flat-picker, the Gourmet Guitars Team was in awe with the beauty of tone and Kim Walker's obvious mastery of the craft.
www.walkerguitars.com
kim@walkerguitars.com
Michael Lewis
D'Angelico Guitars &
Michael Lewis Instruments
Deep in the woods of Northern California lives a man who is at peace - with nature, with himself and with the magnificent beauty and sound of an acoustic guitar. Michael Lewis builds an exclusive personal line of archtop guitars and mandolins. He also builds the only officially authorized D'Angelico archtop guitar replicas in the United States.
Click here for a preview of the Michael Lewis feature from Volume Two of the Gourmet Guitars™ DVD Series.
(Video Clip)
Gourmet Guitars went to Grass Valley stressed and harried from 3 weeks on the road. There is nothing more grounding and peaceful than playing a coastal redwood topped guitar in the middle of a California forest. Sit back and relax across from the babbling brook on Michael Lewis's property, and listen to him speak about the love for his calling to build some of the most extraordinary archtop guitars and mandolins of our times.