Mark Kunkel
Friends,
As someone with great reverence and fondness for music, for guitars, and for artists who do their work with passion and intelligence and commitment to excellence, I would like to recommend to you Greg Gwaltney and his work. Over the 35 years that I have been playing I have been fortunate enough to own some very fine guitars by some of the very best small-shop and luthiers building in this “golden age” of lutherie. Each one has been a gift, and each has blessed me with music and joy. But “Taz” has been something special.
I made Greg’s acquaintance a couple of years ago via some internet guitar communities, and when I found out that he lived a short couple of hours away I made it a point to visit him in his home. It was not surprising to me that Greg is a person of character and clarity, and when I played one of his earlier guitars I knew immediately that I wanted to ask him to build one for me. As together we picked the woods, the finest and most lively Tasmanian Blackwood and the brightest and strongest Lutz spruce and the most interesting bloodwood and mahogany and ebony and koa, I sensed Greg’s perfectionism, and knew that I had made a very good choice in entrusting him to do his work…and do it he did. This guitar is just as lovely to play as it is to look at, and it has been a gift, indeed.
I assure you that should you undertake a collaborative guitar-building endeavor with Greg that it will be a joyous and enjoyable process from beginning to end. I hope that Taz will be part of my life for many years to come.
Mark Kunkel