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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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Legacy Benchworks Furniture

Greg owned his own custom furniture making shop from 1983 through 1996. The company was called Legacy Benchworks, and most of the work involved high end one-off custom furniture, as well as the more standard cabinetry such as kitchen cabinets and … [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...]

Pearl and Abalone Inlay

One of the most beautiful customizations to a musical instrument is the addition of shell inlay. Typically this might include peghead decorations, fretboard position markers or more elaborate motifs such as vines and flowers, and body purflings. … [Read More...]

Baking Tops

A number of guitar builders (including a couple of well-known factory-made brands) follow the practice of baking the Spruce tops in an oven at low heat prior to using them in the construction of an instrument. This practice has caused a lot of … [Read More...]

Customer Testimonials: Taylor 12 string setup

I had a well known luthier in Columbus do a setup on my custom Taylor 12 string including having a bone saddle and nut made. The work seemed good but a while later while using the guitar for recording I noticed a strange light buzzing sound in the B … [Read More...]

Building a Monarch: Spraying Lacquer

Most guitar players want instruments with a high gloss finish. Nitrocellulose lacquer is the traditional finish for the best guitars. It is durable and unlike some other finishes, it can be repaired later. Oil, poly, and water-based finishes are also … [Read More...]

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Technical Articles

Voicing and Tap Tuning of Acoustic Guitars

Voicing and tuning are important elements of great tone. A great guitar has great tone, great playability, and great appearance, in that order. Fancy wood, a high gloss finish, and lots of Abalone inlay are visually beautiful but have … [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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