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You are here: Home / About Dogwood Guitars / About Greg Maxwell

About Greg Maxwell

I’ve lived in central Ohio my entire life, and I’ve built things for as long as I can remember. I cut my teeth as a woodworker doing fancy interior wood trim for a custom home builder in the early 80’s after deciding that performing music for a living wasn’t something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I had worked as a singer/songwriter in a duo since graduating from high school in 1975.

I began making furniture in 1983 and was immediately drawn to building high end pieces. I had little interest in making nick knacks and bread boxes. I studied the furniture that challenged and intrigued me and taught myself to design and build them. I’ve built custom architecture for restored cathedrals, and reproduced European masterpieces for discriminating clients.

Greg in the Dogwood Studio laying some tracks for his daughter’s original music.

Although I no longer perform for a living, I still have a passion for guitars! Like most players, I started on an inexpensive Japanese guitar that sounded pretty good for what it was. As I grew older I wanted more… more tone, and nicer looking instruments than I had in my 20’s. I’ve owned all the major brands and still have some in my small collection of guitars. I thought they were as good as it gets, but to be honest none of them really sounded exceptional to me. I started trying to find out what makes a great sounding guitar, and this led me to enrolling in luthier school at Galloup Guitars in Big Rapids, Michigan. In addition to graduating with one of the highest scores my instructor had ever given out, I also took an advanced Voicing class. That is where I really found what I was searching for! The method developed at Galloup for voicing and tuning guitar tone is cutting edge and is now a part of all Dogwood instruments.

In 2012 my wife and I relocated to Grandview, MO to be a part of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) missionary community. One of the purposes in moving the business to Kansas City was to offer affordable and experienced setup and repair services on both acoustic and electric guitars to the staff, students, and interns at IHOP. After five wonderful years in Kansas City, in August of 2017 we relocated back to central Ohio to be closer to family, including a growing number of grand kids.

I work alone in my small shop in Mount Vernon, Ohio. There, Dogwood guitars are carefully crafted using carefully selected wood and materials. My goal is to build guitars for you that I would want to own myself… works of art that sound as good as they look. I also perform all manner of repair and setup services, from fine tuning new instruments to full restoration of vintage guitars. I can make any guitar play better!

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1977 Martin D-18 Restoration

Older Martins often need substantial work to restore them to excellent playability. Recently a 1977 Martin D-18 was brought to me for evaluation. The guitar needed a neck reset, fret work, bridge plate repair, and cracks in the top repaired. A new … [Read More...]

Custom Guitars

Superb craftsmanship and exceptional tone are reflected in every handmade Dogwood guitar. Whether you are a singer-songwriter looking for an articulate instrument to express your creativity, or are part of a country band or a worship team and need a … [Read More...]

Location

Dogwood Guitars is located in beautiful rural Knox County Ohio, on state route 3 between Centerburg and Mount Vernon. Less than an hour from Columbus, Delaware, and Mansfield, we serve the entire central Ohio area with full-service setup and repairs. … [Read More...]

About Greg Maxwell

I've lived in central Ohio my entire life, and I've built things for as long as I can remember. I cut my teeth as a woodworker doing fancy interior wood trim for a custom home builder in the early 80's after deciding that performing music for a … [Read More...]

Customer Testimonial:

"My stage guitar had buzzing strings and the sound from the pickup was unbalanced. Greg made me a new bone saddle to replace the poorly fitted plastic one and did a setup, now I have a guitar with no issues. His knowledge of guitar geometry is … [Read More...]

Guitar Building, Voicing, and Repair Classes

Greg loves teaching guitar building and repair as much as he loves building guitars himself. Although not currently taking on an apprentice, Greg is offering individual classes in three areas: Acoustic and Electric Guitar Setup and Repair, Guitar … [Read More...]

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Technical Articles

The Science and Theory of Tonewoods

Search out any discussion about tone and tonewoods on the internet and you will quickly find a wide variation of opinions among players and builders alike. However, the majority will almost always list "tonewoods" and/or specific species of Spruce and Cedar as the key to getting the desired tone from a guitar. Indeed, many beginning builders agonize over wood choice combinations as they relate to tone, with more experienced craftspeople offering suggestions that seem to assure the correct … [Read More...]

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Viewpoint Articles

Exploring Common Guitar Myths

So, your guitar is a little hard to play, the strings are a bit too high for your taste, and you are wondering how to remedy this. Or, perhaps your strings are buzzing. You log on to an Internet forum for guitar players and ask what to do about this. Several people respond, with someone suggesting that your truss rod needs adjusted. Should adjusting the truss rod be the go-to solution for correcting buzzing or poor action? In this article we will consider some of the common myths and … [Read More...]

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