Rosie Heydenrych of Turnstone Guitars in Surrey is a strong advocate for alternative timbers for her acoustic guitars, favouring woods that are indigenous to the UK. Acknowledging that it’s not easy to tear up the rulebook, especially where die-hard traditionalists are concerned, she tells the story of building an acoustic for a customer in the US who is old-school to the point that most of the other guitars in his collection are Sitka spruce and rosewood. But Rosie built him an acoustic from (UK-grown) western red cedar and yew and now, months after delivery, he’s still telling her it’s one of his favourite instruments.
How did your work with alternative timbers first come about?
“It was initially environmental awareness that rosewoods were depleting. I knew that a lot of the people who are established are solely using things like rosewoods because that’s what they built their reputations on, so that’s what people expect them to build. I can understand how that’s come about and why they have to keep doing that. But somebody like me, who hadn’t established a reputation, could have the opportunity to experiment a bit more. If you make a dud guitar right at the start, you put that down to experience, whereas further down the line you start to get a little more expensive, you’re taking a bit more of a gamble.