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Top Quality Secondhand & Irish Handmade Instruments & Parts
Testimonials
Sheena Crowley is a great person to deal with. From her days in Crowley's, firstly with her dad Mick and later on her own, Sheena has been mighty altogether. She is knowledgeable about all aspects of musical instruments, she is honest, reliable and enthusiastic, and is absolutely lovely as well.
Bill O'Brien/Cork guitarist
FEATURED INSTRUMENT MAKERS
The finest instrument makers of Ireland
Ultan Walsh
Based in Nohoval, County Cork, Ultan has been making bouzoukis for 20 years. He sells his instruments in Ireland and exports them around the world. He is very passionate about sourcing his woods locally. Steve Cooney is one of many seriously accomplished players who have sought out Ultans bouzoukis.
Bertrand Galen
Bertrand Galen opened his workshop in Cork in 1999 and has been creating, repairing and maintaining fine string instruments in this musical city ever since. Providing services and instruments to many professional musicians based across Ireland, as well as to students and staff a CIT Cork School of Music, Bertrand is himself an active musician. His instruments can be viewed and played at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival annual makers’ exhibition, as well as year-round at his workshop (by appointment). Bertrand is one of Ireland’s most sought after luthiers for repair, restoration and maintenance of instruments.
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Brian Leach
Brian is an experienced craftsman, maker, and musician, who designs and builds one of a kind musical instruments with a unique character. He designs his instruments with solid scientific understanding, technical intuition, and an artist's eye. These instruments are executed using traditional hand woodworking techniques, creating bespoke pieces that are made to last.
Conan Kilcoyne
Cónan Kilcoyne is a luthier and musician based in the West of Ireland.
He holds a BSc. in Architectural Technology from Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, studied instrument repair and restoration under Kieran Moloney in Galway city, and guitar construction under Sam Irwin of the Lagan Lutherie School in Co. Down. Cónan is currently keeping busy with stringed instrument repairs while building up his workshop to be able to create bespoke acoustic and electric guitars along with traditional instruments such as mandolins, and Irish bouzoukis.
John Catherwood
John Catherwood builds unique guitars and stringed instruments by hand in Irish Tonewoods. He is inspired by the European tradition of classical and jazz guitar making. He has developed shapes with flowing curves and full, balanced tones, paired with individually hand-tuned bracing for each instrument and unique decorative touches using highly-figured timbers, which he can trace to the place in Ireland where the tree grew
Eoin O'Riabhaigh
Piper and pipemaker Eoin, is the son of the late, well known Cork piper and teacher, Micheál O Riabhaigh. He began his piping career at the tender age of 9 under his father's watchful eye, and continues to play regularly. Eoin is a qualified mechanical fitter and has a masters degree in Multimedia Development which lends to aspects of his manufacturing with 3d modelling and CNC machining.
Eoin has currently backorders for his pipes but when he has bellows and popping valves ready they will be available on this site.
Brian Lofthouse
Brian Lofthouse is a very experienced luthier building instruments for decades. He mostly concentrates on mandolins and guitars and uses a lovely selection of woods and he gets a great finish on his instruments.
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Iain MacClean
Iain is a musician, an experimental luthier and a structural engineer. He has developed and patented the Notekase guitar which folds into a case. He has refined many years of design, exploration and music to bring you the Highlanders' approach to modern travel. Featuring fine tonewoods combined with his original Tuck & Roll technology, Iain has created the TARDIS* Guitar!
Ciaran McNally
Ciaran studied instrument making in the Lagan Lutherie school in Belfast, and then received a Diploma in Musical Instruments in the London Met College of Furniture. He worked with George Lowden guitars as a senior crafstman and in Atkin Guitars as a production manager, before setting up his own workshop. Ciaran's guitars are a fusion of Celtic and American traditions in guitar making. This comes through in the American inspired body shapes, with Celtic aesthetic decoration and a tone comprising the warmth and sustain of Celtic guitars, as well as the strong fundamental presence and clarity of American guitars, making for a uniquely versatile sound.
John Moriarty
John Moriarty is a graduate of the National College Of Art And Design in Dublin where he studied Visual Communications. John’s guitar building is a culmination of his two interests – visual design and jazz playing. John’s guitars have been featured at the Healdsburg International Guitar Festival 2009 in California and at the Holy Grail Guitar show in Berlin. They are road-worthy, but not over-built. In his own words "I’ve learned through experimentation how to make an archtop guitar sound fully acoustic, without the familiar ‘bark’ as found on poorly voiced instruments. At the same time, I understand that most performers use magnetic pickups which can sound muddy when over-loaded with acoustic information. So more often my instruments are voiced to sound good when amplified."
Haruaki Saito
Haruaki Saito has been working with stringed instruments for the past 14 years. Having graduated at the top of his year in Chubu Technical Academy of Musical Instruments, Haruaki went on to work in one of Asia’s most prestigious violin workshops until he decided to move to Cork 5 years ago. Since arriving in Cork, Haruaki has been working at the acclaimed Vegter Violins, working on the restoration of fine violins and bow repairs, doing general violin repairs and making his own violins. Haruaki is a traditional accordion player and has extensive knowledge of traditional fiddle playing as well as having a deep understanding of classical violin music, both of which aid him in assisting violin players in making decisions surrounding their instruments or in the purchasing of new instruments or equipment.
Looking for a particular maker or type of handmade instrument? Give us a call.
