Beauty

Beauty tells how a custom acoustic guitar came into being. In 2016, the author, John Warnock, was given by his wife an acoustic instrument -- mandolin or guitar -- to be made to his specifications. An email correspondence followed between the author and Vincent Guidroz, luthier and proprietor of the New Orleans Guitar Company.

The backbone of Beauty is that correspondence, put into context by the author, and illustrated by photographs showing the stages in the creation of the instrument. In Beauty, readers will meet a remarkable artist, Vincent Guidroz, learn fascinating technical details about guitar-making and the luthier's art, and experience the human story of the instrument's creation.

About the Author

John Warnock graduated from Tucson High School, then attended Amherst College in Massachusetts, Oxford University in England, and the New York University School of Law. After teaching at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, he returned to Tucson in 1990 to join the English Department at the University of Arizona.

During his time in Laramie (1969-1989), the author played with a bluegrass band that over that time released two albums, Laramie (Mercury, 1970) and The Laramie Daily Record (Sun Country, 1979).

He also loves and plays Mexican music.

He is now Professor Emeritus at UA and lives in Tucson with his wife Tilly.