{"id":143367,"date":"2024-02-25T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-25T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=143367"},"modified":"2024-02-24T13:43:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T21:43:17","slug":"rosie-heydenrych-of-turnstone-guitars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/rosie-heydenrych-of-turnstone-guitars\/","title":{"rendered":"Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitar Company Incorporates English and Other Tonewoods in Her Stunning Custom Instruments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Based in the countryside of southeast England, Turnstone Guitar Company has been gaining accolades and visibility in the custom-built acoustic world. Founded in 2015 by its principal builder, Rosie Heydenrych, Turnstone<\/a> is producing 20 tonally brilliant guitars on average per year, from parlor-sized instruments to dreadnoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turnstone\u2019s guitars have found demand in the UK and U.S. as well as Europe and Asia, and the company is attracting top players such as Britain\u2019s Martin Simpson to its artist stable. Simpson, who is shown with his TM model on the cover of his album Home Recordings<\/a><\/em>, says, \u201cTurnstone guitars are among the most beautiful and expressive instruments I have ever played. Rosie Heydenrych is an exquisite woodworker with a wonderful sense of style, and she has decades of work to look forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Turnstone<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I recently took the train an hour south from London to Lingfield, Surrey, to meet Heydenrych in her shop. She was preparing to leave for the Woodstock Invitational Luthiers Showcase, while her husband, Karl, was keeping production rolling. We discussed her path to the world of lutherie and where Turnstone is headed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many years have you been building?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first started building guitars in 2010 with a weekly evening course that went on for a year before I began working with a repairer on Denmark Street in London. A year into that, I took on a two-year internship with another builder until moving into my own shop in 2015. That was when I started to develop models, go to guitar shows, and hone my craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was your career background before becoming a guitar builder?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After I went to University of Liverpool, my working background was in the charity sector, fundraising initially. That branched into communications for a housing charity, developing their website and working on internal events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Turnstone<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How did music enter the picture?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started playing guitar when I was 17. I played saxophone as my school instrument, and my sister played classical guitar. She never really got on with it, so I started borrowing her guitar. Then thankfully, my dad then got me a steel-string, an Aria, from a music shop in St Albans. I taught myself and played in bands, singing, playing acoustic and electric, and writing songs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how did your pursuits as a player morph into building guitars?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than playing, building just somehow fit my psyche at that point in time, and also it was something that I was willing to push myself to work at. I\u2019ve always been reasonably good with my hands. I did woodwork technology at school\u2014I think I was the only girl that did it for what\u2019s called GCSE level in England, which is your higher-level education. So I had that kind of background, and I wanted to do something creative. When I was working full time in London, I felt like I was losing that part of me. I wanted to pursue something in music or just do something more creative. When that evening course in guitar making was being held at the London Metropolitan University, I just thought, That\u2019s kind of cool… I want to give it a try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you were developing your models, were you looking to replicate vintage acoustics or go down another path?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was definitely more interested in the modern builders. I\u2019ve never particularly been drawn to vintage instruments. I was purely interested in where the guitar could go in the future. I try to think of altered approaches to bracing, tonewood use, and build structure. I want to push the craft forward in playability, aesthetics, and building, trying to see where it can be changed and potentially improved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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