Handbuilt classical guitars and lutes

News

New guitar for sale

Most years I build one guitar specifically to exhibit at festivals. The guitar I've made this year is now available for sale. It has beautiful cocobolo back and sides, with a sapwood stripe down the centre of the back. The top is European spruce with some nice hazelfichte, and the guitar is fitted with high quality Barnett tuners.

Archlute photos

I've finally put some photos of the finished lute up on my blog. I'm hoping to be building more lutes next year, and have been doing quite a few repairs as well, so please get in touch if you're interested in having a lute made or repaired.

Repair book

My guitar repair book has now been published and is available through the publishers.

The book covers a wide range of repairs, guiding readers through the steps required for each process, and illustrated with detailed photographs of each stage.

The Guitars

Playability

Ease of playing is an important consideration, and is achieved by attention to detail in shaping the neck, finishing the fingerboard and frets, and accurate setting of the action, which can be specified to meet the needs of the individual player. Scale lengths from 615mm to 660mm can be specified to suit the individual player.

Tonewoods

Top quality European spruce is normally used for the soundboard, although western red cedar is an option. A wide variety of tonewoods are available for the back and sides. I now also offer guitars made without using any tropical hardwoods, and FSC certified woods where available.

Aesthetics

The visual aspect of my guitars is relatively simple, allowing the grain and colour of the particular woods used to determine the visual impact of the guitar. Traditional finishes are used, either French polish or Danish oil, which enhance the natural beauty of the wood, without compromising the tone.

My aim is to build guitars that are responsive and allow the player to express their own musicality, and that I would be happy to own and play myself. Built mainly in the Spanish tradition, my guitars are sensitive to the player's touch, with good clarity and separation. They have deep, warm basses and sweet trebles, with good balance.

Custom Features

Just a few of the options available

Elevated fingerboards

Elevated fingerboards can help improve access to the upper frets, although not to the same extent as a cutaway.

Leaf Rosette

My leaf motif rosette is used only on guitars made entirely from non-tropical woods, FSC certified where available. I’ve estimated there are over 26,000 individual pieces of wood making up this rosette!

Rodgers tuners are the highest quality available, and have options for backplate style, engraving pattern, button material and shape, and self-aligning bearings.

Rodgers machine heads

Armrests

Armrests improve player comfort and can be either permanently glued, or removable.

Traditional rosette

This traditional rosette has a diamond-patterned central band made of 0.5mm walnut and maple squares, and fine herringbone outer rings.

The V-joint is a traditional method of attaching the head to the neck of the guitar. It was used by Hermann Hauser on his guitars, and although it does not add anything structurally, it looks very elegant.

V-joint

Exhibitions for 2027

Classical Guitar Retreat, St. Andrews, Scotland

4th - 9th July 2027

Felixstowe Classical Guitar Festival

11th - 12th September 2027

Good looking and beautiful sounding guitars. I have the pleasure to play James Lister’s non-tropical wood guitar during this year. The use of unusual materials, knowledge and high quality workmanship create a guitar with a rich and beautifully sweet sound.

Marcin Dylla – Guitarist

It is rare to read a description of a guitar that lives up to the expectation it creates. James’ guitars are not just beautifully crafted instruments, they sound and play better than just about any other hand-made guitar I have played.

Nick Fletcher – Guitarist, teacher and composer

It was a pleasure to play James’ guitar, it really was very impressive. I’ve heard a lot of guitars by relatively young or unknown builders, and this one far exceeds the typical level I hear. Very nice instrument!

Martha Masters – Guitarist

Since the arrival of my Lister the other guitars I own have been hardly used (I now plan to sell the Ramirez 1a I thought I would never part with). The versatility, depth of sound and quality of the instrument are all hard to fault – close to perfection in almost every department, and I am an enormously fussy player!

Gordon Dunn – Guitarist and teacher

Thank you for the great work on my lutes. The seven course in gut is a new experience for me. Gut has a different feel, and I’m finding my way. The instrument is set up to perfection. The Ten course is your “piece de resistance”. The back is fabulous, quite took my breath away, and with the lower action it is a joy to play.
I avoided the 10 course over the years, but so eager to play with your transformative work.
The Archlute is also a great job, the action perfect.
I appreciate very much all your hard work, and now I’m determined to make the most of it.

Bryan Payne – Lute player

Testimonials

I own some thirty books on guitars and guitar building. Some of them very good, quite a few not in that category at all. I have been building guitars as a hobby for more than 15 years, always seeking for inspiration and new ideas. There have been some attempts on repair work as well, but I have always been a bit reluctant to do these, as I feel I really don’t know a lot about how to carry on the work. Until now! I received you book earlier today, and am SO impressed with it. What a Bible! All very well laid out, very informative on different topics and levels, accompanied with great photos. I will read the whole book with great pleasure and use it as a manual for more repairs I now will dare to get into.

Ragnar - Norway

I own some thirty books on guitars and guitar building. Some of them very good, quite a few not in that category at all. I have been building guitars as a hobby for more than 15 years, always seeking for inspiration and new ideas. There have been some attempts on repair work as well, but I have always been a bit reluctant to do these, as I feel I really don’t know a lot about how to carry on the work. Until now! I received you book earlier today, and am SO impressed with it. What a Bible! All very well laid out, very informative on different topics and levels, accompanied with great photos. I will read the whole book with great pleasure and use it as a manual for more repairs I now will dare to get into.

Ragnar – Norway