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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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Blog: Spalted Maple Rosette

I love spalted wood, especially spalted Maple. My affection toward this unique combination of color and pattern goes back to the 1980's, when I became introduced to the work of James Krenov. In 1983 a friend and I discovered a huge spalted Maple … [Read More...]

Customer Testimonials: Morgan Monroe

Greg... Thanks again for the top notch work you performed on my Morgan Monroe. Although this guitar is an expendable "gigging" tool you made it sound and play like a much more expensive instrument. It sure is comforting to know someone with your … [Read More...]

Shop Tour

The original Dogwood Guitars shop, located in rural central Ohio. The Dogwood Guitars shop is located in Mount Vernon, OH, having relocated back to central Ohio in August of 2017 after operating for five years in Kansas City. The shop is fully … [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...]

Fender Strat Tuneup

Fender Strat Tuneup and Setup The Fender Strat is a classic electric guitar that is justly famous for its role in the history of blues and rock music. The quality of individual Strats can vary from excellent to dismal depending on model, year, and … [Read More...]

About Our Name

Many people ask about our name. One of my wife's friends even asked her if I made guitars from any other wood besides Dogwood! For those familiar with the Dogwood tree, this brings a chuckle since this flowering beauty attains only a small size… … [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 … [Read More...]

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Viewpoint Articles

Exploring Common Guitar Myths

I am going to divide this article into two sections: Myths and misunderstandings about playability and care; and myths about tone. We will take these two topics in order. Playability and Care So, your guitar is a little hard to play, the … [Read More...]

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