Sorrento Luthier Crafts 1000th Guitar
John's former woodwork teacher, Dan Zaklan (L) with John's first guitar, and John with his 1000th guitar (photo contributed)
By Jo Boxwell
Inside John McQuarrie’s Sorrento studio, the home of Northwood Guitars, there are an assortment of beautiful tonewoods, guitar components in all phases of construction and a few beloved instruments that have been brought in for repairs. There is no machine automation here; the studio is full of tools designed for specific tasks from joining, planing, cutting and bending to sanding and polishing, and a humidity-controlled room ensures the safe storage of instruments. John is a skilled luthier, and he has been making guitars under his Northwood Guitars brand for more than 30 years.
This year, John achieved a major milestone, crafting his 1000th guitar. The Madagascar rosewood mini jumbo cutaway with an Engelmann spruce top and a large neck went to former NBA player and coach Bill Cartwright, who was looking for a guitar that would suit his 7’1” stature. As John explained, “I made this custom large neck guitar for him about 22 years ago, and he loves it, and he wanted another one.”
At the age of six, John was inspired by a guitarist he saw on TV and crafted a tissue box, toilet roll and elastic band instrument. John’s parents noticed his fascination and signed him up for guitar lessons. In 1982, with the assistance of his high school woodwork teacher, Dan Zaklan, John made his very first guitar. After leaving school, he did some repair work for musical instrument stores in the Lower Mainland before an opportunity arose to work for “one of the great Canadian guitar makers,” Jean Larrivée, in North Vancouver. John worked at the Larrivée Guitars factory from 1987 to 1994, when he left to start his own business – Northwood Guitars, which he established in Langley with a small team.
Almost 20 years ago, John moved to Sorrento with his family and continued to operate Northwood Guitars, this time doing all the work by himself. John makes approximately 24 guitars a year in addition to repair work. While most of his guitars are acoustic, he also makes electric models and custom instruments such as a fretless four-string bass guitar that he is currently working on.
Over the decades, guitar trends have changed, and John has been seeing more demand for smaller body designs that are “super comfortable to play” over the dreadnought and jumbo models that were popular in the past. The woods John uses come from all over the world, but the softwood tops are often homegrown in BC. “I use a lot of Engelmann spruce because it grows in Revelstoke, and I’ve got a great wood cutter over there that knows what he’s doing,” John said.
One of the main avenues for selling handcrafted guitars are at guitar shows, and John’s business has taken him on international adventures. His handmade-in-Langley-and-Sorrento guitars have been sold at major US shows in cities such as Nashville and Anaheim, and internationally in Frankfurt, Germany and Yokohama, Japan. These days, he prefers to focus on the smaller shows in BC and the US. In July, he’ll be working very close to home as the official luthier of the NimbleFingers Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Workshops & Festival, which is hosted annually at Sorrento Retreat and Conference Centre.
While he acknowledged that not everyone can make a career out of doing something they love, John is grateful to have taken this path in life. He said, “If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would still work on guitars, make guitars.” Even with just over 1,000 guitars built, he often comes across his guitars being played. “They’re like old friends. It’s neat to see that they’ve held up so well years later.”
Luthier John McQuarrie (photo contributed)
John's 100th guitar (photo contributed)
Northwood guitars in production (photo credit Scoop staff)
Luthier John McQuarrie (photo contributed)
