GUITARS AND OTHER INSTRUMENTS by JOHN CALKIN
Above, JC with Huss & Dalton MJC custom
Hello, I'm John Calkin. Back in the late '60s I trained as a gunsmith but never went into business. During the '70s I taught myself to build and repair stringed instruments and in 1980 I went professional. I ran my own shop---String Wizard Musical Instruments--- in Flemington, NJ for 15 years and built about 300 instruments there. After moving to Virginia in 1995 I eventually hired on with Huss & Dalton Guitar Co., where I've built the last 3000 or so guitar bodies (as of 7/11). I still build my own instruments but not nearly as many as I used to. Currently I don't build acoustic guitars on commission but anything else is doable. Contact me with your wishes and we'll talk.
Over the years I've discovered that the species of wood that comprises the back and sides of an instrument hardly makes a difference in tone (regardless of what you may have been told), which has led me to explore as many kinds of interesting looking wood as I can find. You might be surprised at what you find in these pages, but I promise you that the best tone and volume possible has always been my grail.
Most of my pages are photo-intensive and slow to download. I hope you'll put up with it and check them out.
Recent Work...I only finish 2-4 instruments a year, so this page is slow to grow. It has by far my most mature work on acoustic instruments.
Two websites you should check out: