Martin Blackwell- Canada

I make every effort in my shop to limit offerings to only the finest builders in the world. I am often in the uncomfortable position of declining to accept a luthier as a ‘featured luthier’ for this reason, but my clients expect the best from Classic Guitars, and I try to earn their respect by not ‘diluting’ the offerings in my shop. So it is a very rare occasion when I ‘invite’ a luthier to join as a ‘Featured Luthier’. While I had heard great things about Martin Blackwell over the years I had only had a few instruments briefly pass through the shop years ago. Recently a Blackwell double top came to the shop and I was able to spend a considerable amount of time with it before it found a new home.

As the world’s number one dealer in double top guitars I have a very broad knowledge of double top builders, guitars, and sound and have had the good fortune of working for many years with the best double top builders on the planet. So it takes a lot to impress me for that reason, my ears have been ’spoiled’! But Martin’s double top immediately impressed me and the more time I spent with it the more impressed I became until I determined that I wanted to reach out to Martin and invite him to join the best builders in the world as a ‘Featured Luthier’ at Classic Guitars International. Martin has turned down many other similar offers but knew he was in great company here and I am delighted that he accepted.

Martin has been building guitars in the Spanish tradition since 1991. He later expanded his building to include double tops and has mainly focused on these since 2007. His goal with double tops is too keep much of these traditional techniques. They are fan braced and very light, while they embrace the modern possibilities. They are remarkable guitars with a pure lovely voice and excellent volume/projection and sustain. Beautifully hand crafted on the Sunshine Coast they are exquisite instruments by arguably Canada’s top builder.

Welcome Martin! I am excited to work with you and share your instruments with my clients all over the globe.