La Due guitars are built in a 900 square foot shop in the Town of Triangle, NY. Guided by a simple philosophy of pleasing sound, aesthetics, craftsmanship and stewardship, each guitar is made one at a time, using traditional machinery and hand tools. Every wood part of the guitar is made here. It’s my purpose and goal to make excellent, conservatively priced, one-off guitars that use the beauty of our local hardwoods combined with tasteful appointments. The combinations of woods, rosettes, bindings and purflings makes an aesthetic statement punctuated by good craftsmanship and enhanced by pleasing tone and presence. A La Due guitar is a polite assertion of the beauty and diversity of our Northeastern hardwoods and a demonstration of the wise and frugal use of a precious resource. Making guitars is my art. It’s my dream. It’s where I live. Every guitar is my signature in sound and aesthetics.

I’ve been a woodworker all my life and a guitar player since 1965. The two finally came together when I began building guitars in 1992. My upbringing in central Cayuga County, Weedsport, NY, my education and my career as a shop teacher have all brought me to this end. It is a rare pleasure indeed, to live a seamless existence between what I am and what I do.

It’s my purpose and goal to make excellent, conservatively priced, one-off guitars that use the beauty of our local hardwoods combined with tasteful appointments. The combinations of woods, rosettes, bindings and purflings makes an aesthetic statement punctuated by good craftsmanship and enhanced by pleasing tone and presence. A La Due guitar is a polite assertion of the beauty and diversity of our Northeastern hardwoods and a demonstration of the wise and frugal use of a precious resource. Making guitars is my art. It’s my dream. It’s where I live. Every guitar is my signature in sound and aesthetics.

La Due guitars are predominantly made from Northeastern hardwoods, acquired as locally as possible. Black Walnut, Cherry, Maples, White Ash and many other species make strikingly beautiful, excellent sounding guitars. Reclaimed, salvaged lumber and logs can also provide excellent materials and bring an element of character, age and interest to a guitar. More often than not, the materials in your La Due guitar have an interesting story behind them. La Due Guitars offers eight different body sizes, from parlor to jumbo, acoustic bass and classical.

No matter how you make contact, I will personally guide you through the many decisions and choices you’ll make to arrive at the design of your perfect guitar. While a shop visit is the easiest and most fun way, I can help you specify your guitar through any other method of communication. Pictures, text messages and FaceTime video can all be used to communicate the design of your guitar and can also be used to communicate progress during your instrument’s construction.

Top: Sitka Spruce, Western Red Cedar, Alaskan Yellow Cedar, Douglas Fir, Bearclaw Spruce, others.

Back & rim material: Black Walnut, Black cherry, Hard Maple, Soft maple, Sycamore, White Ash, Red Oak, others. Also, multi-piece and multi-specie backs.

Rosette: Endless possibilities in materials, colors shapes, styles.

Bindings: Choose from the available hardwoods or other exotic on hand, many possibilities to contrast with your back and rim choice.

Purfling colors : Natural colors or dyed purfling strips to compliment the top and bindings

Options: Inlays, bound fingerboard, bound headpiece, arm rest, left handed, cutaway, multi-piece back, sound port. The possibilities are endless