Thank you for checking out James' Home of Tone! I am closed on Thursday's, but will be back in the office to handle inquiries and orders as normal on Friday. Thanks for your kind patience
15 Second Gear Demo 'Lockdown guitar quiz of the year!'

15 Second Gear Demo 'Lockdown guitar quiz of the year!'

Dan from 15 Second Gear Demo has put together an awesome Lockdown guitar quiz over on YouTube! The finest guitar questions, even finer guitar personalities, and somehow, me! Definitely worth your lockdown time so head to Dan’s YouTube channel via his page and see how many of those internet points you can win 💪
Podcast with Tom Sands!

Podcast with Tom Sands!

Tom Sands not only is one of the worlds finest luthiers, he also (among many other things) runs a regular guitar based podcast alongside his apprentice, Daisy Tempest. The Podcast has featured some inspiring guests since it's beginnings, and it's one I've enjoyed as a listener for some time now. Well, somehow I have found myself now featured on the podcast as a guest! Tom & Daisy traveled down from Yorkshire for my Coffee & Guitars charity event, and were kind enough to hang around and record this podcast with me along with making a fantastic video here inside the Home of Tone too.
It was such good fun, I find both Tom & Daisy very inspiring in my journey and am grateful for their support and friendship, so it was a genuine honour to record this with them. Hope you enjoy listening to a little about my story!
New shirts!

New shirts!

This shirt idea came about for a few reasons. Firstly, I love those late 90s Independent Trucks brand skateboard shirts, and this design started life as an idea to capture some of the vibes from those awesome designs I loved so much. 
Holy Grail Show feature - Tom Sands Guitars - Apprentice to mentor.

Holy Grail Show feature - Tom Sands Guitars - Apprentice to mentor.

The world of high end steel string luthiery is a deep pool of almost unfathomable talent. The bar has been set so high that it's difficult to imagine how you could even begin to be unique, how you could float to the top of that innovative and highly skilled pool. But Tom Sands has managed it, and set about proving it by launching his latest two designs at this year's Holy Grail Guitar Show, both of which wonderfully different to one another only tied by Tom's distinct style coming through and seemingly infinite abilities in luthiery. 
The most incredible guitar show around the world? Quite possibly...

The most incredible guitar show around the world? Quite possibly...

I'll be putting together some more in depth coverage of my weekend spent at The Holy Grail Guitar Show held in Berlin, which was a mind opening experience. But in the mean time I couldn't help but post this photo which sums up the weekend for me...

Friends, mutual respect and admiration, energy and passion for the guitar and in particular, the craft of guitar making. That is what I've come away from this incredible show feeling, inspired by it all. There's nothing quite like it and it was pretty inspiring seeing such a vast collection of what makes me excited about the guitar some 20+ years on since first getting hooked.

The incredibly talented, Tom Sands Guitars hanging out at the Millimetric Instruments table, getting to know the insane Baritone version of their MGS3 model. The avid follower of my blog will note there have been 'Meet the Maker' interviews by myself on both of these luthiers, so it was great to all get together.

Stay tuned for my full coverage of the event, over on Instagram, Facebook and of course, here too!

Meet the maker - Tom Sands

Meet the maker - Tom Sands

This series is somewhat self indulgent of me, I love discovering brands and guitar makers I've not come across prior, including that of the aspects of guitars I'm perhaps not familiar with either. I enjoy hearing about all the different luthiers approaches and influences, from a guitar geeks perspective it's really quite insightful. But one thing the series was lacking so far, was an acoustic guitar maker's thoughts.

Rewind about a year, and Nick Pourfard of Prisma Guitars asked me if I knew Tom Sands, an acoustic guitar maker friend of his. I hadn't sadly, and to my surprise he was UK based, and I was hooked instantly after a look at his website and media content. You could tell there was more than just guitars that Tom was influenced by. Super clean designs, that seemed to balance beautifully between pure functionality and getting the very best from each aspect of the instrument, to being incredibly aesthetically pleasing and unique. Over the course of the time first hearing of Tom's work, to speaking with him a little over social media, I knew he had to be the first acoustic guitar maker to join the Meet the Maker series and luckily he was keen too! So let's find out more about Tom, his influences, processes and work...