I live and work in the far north of the North Island of New Zealand with my wife and four children. We live in beautiful guitar making country in a valley with a small river flowing past my workshop. It is a one man shop with all instruments built entirely by myself.I build with many traditional timbers like Brazilian rosewood and the Spruces but have long been involved in the use of timbers native to my country. I am perhaps most well known for the Ancient Kauri back and sides that I have pioneered the use of. Ancient kauri varies widely from piece to piece and not all is suitable for instrument making.All my stock has been hand selected personally and I have what arguably could be the highest quality selection of ancient kauri inventory in the world.For soundboards my personal favourite is kauri (This is not the same wood as Ancient Kauri). Unfortunately this is hard to obtain and my supply is getting smaller as the years pass. Consequently I now offer Sitka spruce as my standard option with upgrades to European, Adirondack etc. as well as kauri as special options. The kauri soundboard has a unique flavour of tone that is rich and complex and has exceptional sustain.Laurie Williams