Grit’s Fiction and Guitar Books

What if the greatest violin maker in history actually did have a secret formula?  And, what if it was stumbled upon, by innocent guitar makers, who then became the target of someone who could not let that secret be revealed.  Further, there is a second party who very much wants the secret made public.

The cascade of events takes our protagonists to London, Paris, the island of Sardinia, Phoenix, Ottawa, as they dodge violence and try and uncover the mystery.

The Art and Antiquities Fraud division of MI6 becomes involved; Russian hackers are in the game; the most expensive stolen painting in the world also plays a cameo role in this fast-paced mystery/thriller.

For three centuries musical instrument makers and players have tried to reverse-engineer Stradivari violins.  What was it that made them so exceptional, even among the other superb craftsmen of his era?  Books and scientific papers have been written. But to this day there have only been theories.  

Until now.

Grand Complications – 50 Guitars and 50 Stories: This book is more in-depth than A Gutarmaker’s Canvas.  It was published in November of 2016 by Figure 1 in Vancouver.   My goal was to take you behind the curtain, so to speak, of the inlay process.  I wanted to describe—and show—how I start with a clients idea and find a way to turn it into a visual narrative.  I dug back 13 years and selected 50 projects.  After that, my job was to go back in time, and describe what was happening in my head during the designing process.  Thankfully I had all my files and was able to take myself back into the projects and recreate the creative effort.
The book contains preparatory drawings, researched images, etc. and also contains sumptuous colour plates of the finished projects.

A Guitarmaker’s Canvas: This was the first major book on my Inlay Art, published in 2003. It examines 90 guitars, with full colour images of the inlays, and brief stories about them.  It was first published by Backbeat Books in California.