Sustainable Woods
Instruments are made from sustainably-harvested woods. I try to use materials from North America whenever possible. Favorite woods include maple, cherry, walnut, and tiger myrtle. Tone woods include sinker redwood, sitka spruce, and engelmann spruce.
Natural Finishes
Finishing factory-built guitars is nasty work. I choose to use non-toxic hand rubbed oil and french polished finished when. If requested, I use brushed and sprayed water-based finishes that are more durable than the oil and shellac.
Handcrafted
Instruments are crafted in a traditional manner with hand tools. Hand-saws, planes, chisels, and scrapers are my favorite tools and I try to use them when possible.
Low Environmental Impact Guitars
Snowflake Guitars are designed, built, and finished with emphasis on reducing the environmental impact of building guitars. An essential contradiction is guitars are made of natural materials but the process used to build them has a great environmental footprint. Glues, finishes, and non-sustainable hardwoods all have significant negative impacts. I strive to understand the environmental foot print of instrument building and to create guitars that make a difference.
Snowflake Guitars are designed, built, and finished with emphasis on reducing the environmental impact of building guitars. An essential contradiction is guitars are made of natural materials but the process used to build them has a great environmental footprint. Glues, finishes, and non-sustainable hardwoods all have significant negative impacts. I strive to understand the environmental foot print of instrument building and to create guitars that make a difference.