Aaron,

    I just wanted to thank you again for the amazing work you have done on both of the custom instruments you have built for me.   I never imagined that I could find someone who could take my unorthodox concepts and turn them into such amazing instruments.  The ergonomic guitar and bass are both just stunning. I am thrilled every time I pick either of these instruments up, and once I start playing, they feel so good I never want to set them down.  

    Thank you not only for listening to my ideas, but for all of the incredibly useful thoughts and direction that you added to the project - I felt like you not only listened to what I wanted, but fully absorbed the concept behind my ideas, elaborated on them and ended up building instruments that I will cherish for many, many years.

Until the next one!

- Vance

   Aaron Andrews has been my friend and colleague for about ten years now. Since July 2000, we have worked side by side in our shop in Seattle's University District. Back then, Aaron offered me an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream, to become a practicing luthier, building acoustic guitars of my own design. Not only did he invite me to share his new shop space, Aaron was very generous with his knowledge, and he made all his machinery and tools available to me. He diligently coached and taught me the theories and practices of guitar making, and under his guidance, my very first instrument was a complete success. There's no way I could have done it without him.

   To date, I have completed sixteen acoustic guitars. And still, I learn something new from Aaron every day. He sets a very high standard for quality, and by his example, I try to meet that standard with each new project. I can't imagine having a better shop partner than Aaron Andrews.

   First and foremost, Aaron is an artist and craftsman, par excellence. Keeping a discerning eye on tradition, he goes forward boldly, innovating new designs and construction methods to continually advance the state of the art. Just look at some of his new creations on his website. He builds the most amazing archtops I've ever seen- or heard. Check out the electric baritone skull guitar he recently completed. You could say that Aaron is audacious in some of his designs. But everything he builds works superlatively well. And he pulls it all off with an impeccably high level of craft and artistry.

   Aaron is also an expert guitar repair technician. I've watched him take on some very challenging jobs, reincarnating dead guitars in the same bodies, making many of them better than they were when they were brand new. I've watched Aaron do careful and respectful restorations on some beautiful old instruments of historical value. From quick, simple setup jobs to complex re-builds, he's got the full set of skills to do A+++ work. He's made very many of his clients fall in love with their beat-up old workhorses all over again. Aaron's repair history of several thousand instruments has given him a vast set of skills to service practically any fretted instrument.

   I could go on and on, but you get the point. Aaron Andrews has the talent, artistry, and skill to take his place in the top echelon of modern lutherie.

                                                                         S. J. Sheriff,

                                                                         Edwinson Guitars