CREATIVE duet

For Dave Pauling, making guitars is the natural fusion of two passions — music and wood.

Dave, who has been playing the guitar since he was 13, also knew the pleasure of pottering in sheds from a young age. His father is a sheddie from way back, who, among other things, still spends many hours restoring vintage vehicles.

“I grew up helping him with his Model Ts, making bows and arrows, or working on a model railway we had in the loft,” Dave says.

While Dave himself has spent a fair few hours restoring a 1965 Mustang imported from San Francisco, he prefers working with wood. There’s something about the malleability and smell of wood, as well as its provenance, he says. Wood, especially the recycled timber he uses to construct his guitars, has had a previous life: “Every guitar [that] I make comes with a prehistory.”

Inspiration from a catalogue

Dave built