Elle (Jayne) Henderson, daughter of Wayne Henderson, has decided to follow in her father’s footsteps, yet still make her own path. A few years back, Elle decided to take a pause from pursuing a career in environmental law, and instead learn the craft of guitar-making directly from her father.

It is clear that Elle Henderson grew up around guitars and her father Wayne’s workbench. But it’s easy to sense that she has her own dreams and desires for her instruments. Obviously Elle has a massive amount of respect for her father’s legacy, and in some ways wants to preserve that in her own work. However, there is a new twist to Elle’s work propelling her into her own standout brand.

For instance her love of inlay artwork. Elle sees the guitar as a canvas for expression in a less traditional way than her father might. Her appreciation of the intricacies and detail of inlay work shines through and is clear in the end-product.  As she explains on her blog on Luthier’s Apprentice regarding inlay, “I also enjoy attending to the minute details of shaping a piece just right, first with the saw and then with a tiny file, and I appreciate the challenge of routing a space in which the pearl perfectly fits.”

Elle is also interested in using more sustainable woods – something we are all inspired by. She is striving to use hardwoods such as local Maple and Walnut rather than the more exotic woods. She is aiming to build instruments that provide similar sound and beauty as those boasting a Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, but with fewer environmental impacts.

Interestingly, Elle’s pursuit of learning the craft began from her drive to be closer to her father. We can all relate to this in one way or another. Wayne’s demands of his career made it more difficult for the two of them to spend time together. While there is clearly a lot of love and respect between the two, life got in the way a bit for them to spend the amount of time they may have wanted in earlier years. By making the decision to pause her career in environmental law and become a luthier, she has taken a big step in getting closer to her father. Building guitars has now given them both another chance to spend time together, learn more about each other, and create an amazing legacy that spans generations.

Elle’s passion for learning, her commitment to family, and her drive to create beautiful guitars propels her to protect the family tradition and build upon it. We are very excited to see what new creations will come up out of the next Henderson to join the scene.

We were also very excited to learn that Elle is setting up her shop right here in Asheville, North Carolina just a few miles from us at Dream Guitars: we look forward to a long and close relationship to create some very special instruments together.

Be sure to follow Elle on her blog on Luthier’s Apprentice here

Also, like her Fan page on Facebook here