Wrenfold

Hand-built acoustic guitars Asheville, North Carolina

I · The top

It starts as a wedge of red spruce.

Split along the grain from one Appalachian log, book-matched, and planed to 2.8 millimetres until it rings when you tap it.

II · The rim

Rosewood sides, bent over a hot iron.

East Indian rosewood, wetted and bent by hand to the 000 outline, then lined so the top has something to hold on to.

III · Inside

Twelve braces you will never see.

Scalloped X-bracing, carved a shaving at a time while tapping the top, so it moves freely under the bridge and stays stiff at the edges.

IV · The bridge

Ebony and bone, set in hide glue.

The bridge is fitted to the curve of the top, the saddle shaped from bone, and everything glued hot so it can be taken apart and repaired in fifty years.

V · Yours

Strung, tuned, and played for a week.

Before it ships, every Wrenfold is played in the shop for seven days, then signed inside by the person who built it.

The shop Two builders, two rooms, and twenty-four guitars a year.
The finished guitar seen edge-on, rosewood sides catching a line of light

We don't keep bodies stacked on a shelf waiting for necks. Every Wrenfold starts as a wedge of spruce on the day your name reaches the top of the list, and one builder carries it all the way to the first chord.

Hear it

Six strings, one warm voice

Tap a string, or strum all six. We carve the braces for this: a low end that blooms without swallowing the top, and trebles that stay round.Played by a small synth in your browser, a sketch of the real thing.

    Standard tuning, E A D G B E

    Eleven weeks, one bench

    One builder, start to finish. The guitar never leaves the room between steps.

    Close grain of a red spruce top, fine straight lines with silk-like cross figure
    Week 01

    Splitting the top

    Red spruce split, not sawn, so the grain runs straight through the plate.

    The guitar edge-on, showing the depth of the rosewood rim
    Week 02

    Bending the sides

    Rosewood wetted and bent over a hot iron to the 000 outline.

    The top lifted off the body, showing the braces and linings inside
    Weeks 03–04

    Carving the braces

    Twelve spruce braces, scalloped by ear while the top is tapped.

    The closed body seen low from the end of the fingerboard
    Week 05

    Closing the box

    Top and back glued to the rim, bound in maple, and the neck fitted by hand.

    Ebony bridge with bone saddle and bridge pins on the spruce top
    Weeks 06–09

    Finish and bridge

    Thin nitro in a dozen coats, then the ebony bridge glued in hide.

    The finished guitar standing upright in the dark shop
    Weeks 10–11

    Played in

    Set up, strung, and played for seven days before it is signed.

    What one guitar asks of us

    11WKSat one bench, from split wedge to first chord
    24guitars a year, and no more
    2.8MMthickness of the top, planed until it rings
    7DAYSplayed in the shop before it is signed
    A finished Wrenfold standing in the dark shop No. 2 · 000 · 14 frets clear
    The list

    Put your name on one

    Pick a body and a top. We'll write back with the real wait, the woods we have on hand, and a time to come play one in the shop.

    Body
    Top
    $7,600About 14 months on the list
    Join the list $500 deposit when your build starts, not before