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Welcome to the Luthier's Corner...
... How you get those good vibrations... an ongoing column.

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Meet Dennis MacPherson
- owner of Black Pearl Guitars.

Nestled in the rural hills of Northern New Jersey at the end of a long one lane road you'll find the small, one man shop of Black Pearl Guitars.

"Try this" my student said after he pulled out his guitar from its case. Five seconds after playing it I knew I was holding the work of a master craftsman.

I had just relocated and was looking for someone locally who could maintain and repair my collection of guitars. My search was over after playing my student's Black Pearl guitar.


"The guy's name is Dennis and he lives about 20 minutes north of here. You should pay him a visit."

I did and couldn't have been happier.

..... Toby Walker

Tune in from time to time as Dennis will be constantly contributing more chapters.


My Signature Guitar

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Dennis built this one for me.. you can read all about it here...
The Toby Walker model



Sound Hole Ports - So that's what it sounds like!

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It seems like with each year luthiers are coming up with new and innovative ideas when designing guitars. Would this feature be in your future? Read on...


Tonewoods... Top This!

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The soundboard of a guitar is a major contributor to the overall tone of a guitar. Here's the skinny on a variety of tonewoods that will help you make the perfect choice when purchasing a guitar or having your dream one built. Click on the picture or title above to read the full article.


Back and Sides... so much to choose from

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There are plenty more Tonewoods to choose from these days, more than I could cover in this article. Also I haven’t used them all. I have listed only the woods that I have worked with and within that group only the most common. I do get strange requests from time to time from electric guitar player that want acoustics made from woods common to the electric guitar family but that’s another article..

Copyright 2012 Toby Walker