I think it was in 2003 I attended a guitar camp at Tapitalle near Nowra NSW and there I met Tony McManus a Scottish acoustic guitarist of prodigious skills. I purchased his CD 'Return to Kintail' a beautiful album in which Tony plays with the fiddler Alisdair Fraser.  As listened over and over, I was impressed by the clarity and beauty of tone from Tony's guitar, an instrument made by Scottish luthier William C. Kelday.

In 2004 while in Scotland for concerts, I arranged to visit Bill Kelday at his workshop in the Campsie hills outside Glasgow. I was impressed by Bill's complete dedication to luthier's craft and his description of the qualities he aimed to achieve in his instruments

In November 2006, from Australia, I ordered a 000 Birds Eye Maple guitar. Over the months we communicated through emails and I heard progress reports on the construction of my instrument in the farmhouse workshop near Fintry. From hot humid Australia I heard of rain falling constantly in Scotland.

In January 2007 Madge and I came to Ireland for another two year stay. Eventually the instrument was finished. On May 1st I drove in glorious warm sunshine to the Bill's workshop. When the case was opened I was delighted by the beautiful appearance of the instrument with every detail so immaculately finished.  And the sound ... well, it is rich, strong, clear and lovely and will only improve as the instrument settles and matures.

I am honoured to own this handmade, world class instrument that will be used for recording and special concerts - in particular 'Good Morning Good People!' in which the guitar accompaniment is so important in creating the changing moods of a musical-narrative on the life of St. Francis of Assisi..

I was given a CD of photos recording every stage of the construction process for my guitar. Some of these can be seen below. The photo at the top of the  page was taken on the day I received the guitar.

Click on the links if you'd like to learn more about
Bill Kelday www.keldayguitars.com/
or Tony McManus www.tonymcmanus.com

SOME PHOTOS FROM CONSTRUCTION PROCESS