John McQuarrie is the sole luthier and President of Northwood Guitars. Trained by Jean Larrive in Vancouver, British Columbia he remains in Canada as Larrive has moved to Southern California.

Vancouver is a goodly sized pocket of luthiers and it is no wonder, the whole West Coast of the Western Hemisphere is a place where life is good and wood is plentiful. John may be the most outstanding of the luthiers in this area.

I had a chance to meet John at Winter NAMM Show 2005 and got to sample firsthand the quality and value of the Northwood guitars he builds.

Examining his guitars with a dentist mirror and just sniffing the inside of the guitar itself reveals the cleanliness of this builder along with preferences of materials. He uses Spanish cedar as his braces and internal structure thus the peppery smell.

The insides of Northwood guitars are free of glue and imperfections. While the outside of the guitar is also indicative of the attention to detail and cleanliness of the luthier's vision, if you take a careful look at the inside you'll see the anal retentive nature of the luthier. John is anal, a good thing when building a guitar.

These Northwood guitars are extremely clean inside and out and relative to the output of a luthier, when it is a sole luthier doing the building and with an output of somewhere around 60 guitars, it is a testimony to an overall vision of striving for perfection.

Being as clean as one can get matters nothing unless the sound and playability is not there and every Northwood that has passed through the hands of New Millennium Guitar has been relatively flawless in this respect.

The sound, for instance of the orchestra as made by most builders, a usually loud and rather thin sounding guitar made for ensemble work to cut through a mass of sound, with a Northwood is far more robust and thick. I would assume that a luthier of steel string guitars would be satisfied with this sound for an auditorium model as the Northwood orchestra is deeper in body dimensions by the normal orchestra precedent by around ½ an inch.

Honestly the Northwood orchestra model is far more robust than usual as well as the jumbo and dreadnought. These are two models that New Millennium Guitar have ordered and sold and in each case these guitars are superior to what brands, Martin, Taylor and Larivee and others, are available for somewhat more money.

Attention to detail and wood is a hallmark of Northwood guitars as seen in this quilted maple dreadnought.

It is an astonishing guitar in sound, the fit and finish equals. John's necks are medium mass, round and not V-like.

Fitted with medium frets and an ebony fretboard, this is a $5000 guitar reasonable considering that the going rate for a comparable Martin, Collings or Taylor is a bit more this is quite a nice price. The standard dreadnought lists for $3800. We have one left "in" the store.

The Northwood jumbo 12-string in spruce/mahogany is about the best playing 12 string I've heard and the playability is the best. The sound is very rich and deep.

Made to take the tension of standard pitch some builders recommend that you tune to "d." The Northwood's neck is built like a rock in one solid piece of mahogany. All Northwood guitars have a one-piece neck without a heel stack. Nice!

John, please outline your progression into guitar making:

-1972, made a guitar out of a tissue box, paper towel roll and elastic bands when I was 6.
-parents bought me a guitar for my 7th birthday.
-took classical guitar lessons 'til age 12.
-dropped playing guitar due to hand injury at 12.
-rediscovered guitar at 14 and started playing in local bands.
-built 1st guitar in grade 11 woodshop class.
-built 2nd guitar in grade 12 woodshop class.
-bounced around odd jobs for 3 years after high school.
-hired on at Larrivee factory in 1987.
-Worked full-time at Larrivee and repaired instruments in the evening for 3 stores in the area.
-1994 left Larrivee to start Northwood guitars.
-1996 Northwood Guitars began.

The kleenex box guitar was just something I made when I was a bored kid. I did enjoy playing guitar as a youngster and I guess spending so much time practicing gave me alot of time alone with the guitar to inspect it and get curious as to how they were put together. I always made a lot of model aircraft and cars as a kid and I think that helped me get accustomed to fine detailed work.

I have no great plans to overtake the world of guitars I just want to keep making great instruments I can be proud of. I appreciate how fortunate I am to be able to do what I do for a living.

Copyright 2006, new millennium Guitar Publishing Co., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED