About

Welcome to McConnell Guitars.

My building is informed by almost 40 years as a guitar player, with half of that as a professional with the Grammy and Juno Award winning band The Duhks. My years of touring and constant playing have resulted in a broad experience as a musician and have also led me to an intimate understanding of the various aspects of a guitar's function and playability. From sound production to set up, I have been involved in a love affair with the guitar for most of my life. 

I built my first guitar in September of 1999 with David Freeman in Saskatchewan, Canada. It was really just an interesting way to get a (hopefully) better acoustic guitar than I could afford at the time, but I was consumed and I never looked back. I returned to Winnipeg, quit my job, took over my father's small workshop and began building guitars full time. In 2001 I traveled to Spain for a masterclass with Spanish Luthier José Luis Romanillos. This marked a significant turning point in my building and ignited a deep passion and respect for the craft and for those who came before. 

I build mostly by hand, and use a minimum of jigs and fixtures. While this results in a limited number of instruments each year, it gives me the freedom to meet specific requests for customizing, and also allows me to work each piece of timber to bring out the best it has to offer, both sonically and aesthetically.