Materials Used in Maxwell Guitars

A slab of Walnut felled in a storm.

I get wood from a lot of sources. Two of my first guitars I made with mahogony necks cut from a hearth in a house I salvaged while doing demolition work out of Olympia, WA in 2004. I recently found some nice red-orange Padauk in some old weathered pallets and used it in a few builds in different ways. Reclamation and reuse is an essential part of learning to cope with our evergrowing environmental footprint as a civilization, and I am always looking for similarly useable wood to rescue from landfills (though I am not taking apart houses with handtools so much lately).

Bags of inlay cuts for a variety of works–in–progress.

That said, a lot of the wood I use I've paid for from different retail resources —I have bought from established Hardwood Lumber outlets in the Northwest, from Luthier's Mercantile at times, and also with regionally-acquired felled lumber —any of which, of course, is aged to a proper degree before use. Many woods used by guitarbuilders are marginally exotic or endangered. I am not opposed to using them at all, but I will only go through legitimate suppliers, and for the most part will favor something regionally or locally produced if the quality will suffice.

A collection of rough–cut necks and fingerboards.

No wood is used for a Maxwell until it has aged and dried appropriately, and they are guaranteed against any structural failures due to construction or material selection flaws, for as long as I still breathe anyway.

As far as hardware and electronics go, I have some brands I prefer to work with, but we can talk about including whatever type of component you like. For pickups, I'm partial to Bare Knuckle Pickups (UK), TVJones (WA), Lollar (WA) Lindy Fralin (VA) and EMG (CA). I've used Railhammers a bit, too. If you have a specific preference you want to talk about let me know — we can easily sort out whatever your needs are.

I've been really happy with Hipshot Tuning machines for both Guitar and Bass, and likewise have been extremely happy with their Bridges I've used. I'm also a big fan of Bigsbys, and can get any sort of stopbar/tuneamatic setup you prefer if that's your thing. I've done some custom hardwood floating bridges and tailpieces, as well. Just let me know what you're thinking, when you reach out about an order —I'm open to ideas.