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About Nolan String Works |
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Nolan String Works is a small, one man shop in the Holme Valley, West Yorkshire, owned and operated by me, Dave Bell. I have been building custom instruments since 1989, after spending most of my adult life in the building trades. At the age of 35, I realized that almost 20 years of building houses was taking a physical toll, and decided to combine my love of wood and music into something I could do until I was a little old man. Having been a guitar player since the age of thirteen, I have my own philosophy on what an instrument should be, and as a craftsman, what I should strive to attain. In as few words as possible, my concept is to build functional art. An instrument should be beautiful, soundly constructed, and play with ease and comfort. I don't do any sort of production work, each instrument is a one of a kind, built expressly for the person who commissions it. Body style, design, choice of woods, inlay patterns, scale length, finger board width, etc., is developed in close co-operation with the customer, to arrive at a singular design and personal statement. To see some examples of this, please visit the Photo Gallery. All instruments are built using only the finest materials available, most of the work being done by hand. This limits my output to between 10 and 15 instruments a year, as I also do repairs, restorations, and set-ups. There are really no constraints on design factors, apart from practical considerations, i.e., if you want a guitar made of granite, I'm not tooled up for that. Design and material specifications will be found on the Ordering page, and if you wish to get in touch with me, go to the Contact page. Thank you for your interest, Dave Bell Nolan String Works |
