Paul McEvoy
Since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by the process of building instruments. Wooden boats, violins, and guitars all seemed like magic to me — I couldn't figure out how you were supposed to bend wood into a curve. That fascination with the beauty of instruments never really left me.
Today I build classical, electric, and gypsy jazz guitars, working solo out of a studio in Portland's State Theatre building. Most instruments are built on spec — guitars I'm excited to build — rather than off a fixed order sheet, and each one takes roughly six months from first wood to final setup.
I sell directly to individual players rather than through dealers. Each guitar starts as the most ideal instrument I can imagine — not a customer's exact order or a showroom floor spec — and I hope it finds a player who feels the same way about it that I do.
I play what I build
I'm also an active jazz guitarist. I play locally around Portland, but I also bring my own instruments to festivals specifically to seek out master players and get their feedback — putting each guitar in front of the kind of musician who'll actually push it, rather than relying on my own ear alone.
That loop between the bench and the bandstand shapes my instruments as much as any single material choice does.
Tops, backs, and necks
Tops are typically Sitka spruce, Engelmann spruce, or redwood. Back and side woods vary from build to build — I keep a collection on hand and enjoy experimenting with it. Necks are most often mahogany, though Port Orford cedar, Douglas fir, and maple have all found their way into finished instruments.
What others say
"Paul is one of my best students, and someone I've really enjoyed working with over the years. He is passionate, thorough, and always looking for ways to understand more and improve what he does. His guitars are impressive instruments, with a strong personality of their own. Paul is constantly experimenting with clever solutions, always with a clear purpose: to push the sound performance and playability of his instruments further."
Giuliano Nicoletti, Luthier and author of "Mastering the Sound of the Acoustic Guitar"
"This is my guitar for life."
Aash Durg
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Appointments only, by way of a short note about what you're looking for.