Philip Woodfield – England

Traditional appearance and tone with lattice braced volume

Philips guitars are played by a number of concert artists in Europe at this time. His instruments possess and elegant traditional appearance that belies the fact that they are actually powerful contemporary lattice braced guitars…

Philip has been building fine guitars in England for nearly 25 years now. Over time he has developed an ever growing appreciation among players and concert artists around the world, and no wonder, his guitars have everything we all look for, beautiful rich tone, ease of play, superb volume, and of course exquisite beauty and craftsmanship. Concert artists who play a Woodfield include Scott Tennant of the LA Guitar Quartet, Giulio Tampalini in Italy,

Raymond Burley in England, as well as Arne Brattland, Jonathan Salfield, Clive Carron, and members of the Duo Gvito, Pro Arte Trio, and arctic Guitar Trio. Raymond Burley, a regular contributor to “Classical Guitar” magazine and a fine concert and recording artist, often plays with harpsichordists, string quartets, and even percussionists. He was for years a duo partner with Alice Artzt as well. Raymond needed more volume than a traditional guitar could offer, but tended not to like the tone of some of the contemporary guitars. That was until he played a Woodfield lattice guitar. He now owns one and finds that it provides the volume he needs in his playing situation without sacrificing any of the tonal beauty that he demands.

While Philip builds fan braced guitars, his Torres and Series One, his recent focus has been building fine lattice braced instruments. Philip strives to build instruments that look, feel, and sound very traditional, and yet are actually contemporary lattice braced instruments. His guitars have an elegant and beautiful traditional appearance and clients are often surprised to discover that inside is a contemporary lattice braced system. These guitars have excellent volume and projection, and sustain and clarity are enhanced by the familiar beauty of a wonderful traditional tonal character.

Philip states: “I strive for evenness over the whole range, clarity, separation, sustain and volume all balanced together in harmony such that no one aspect outshines another. In addition I want the sound to be sweet and expressive with a timbre producing a varied tonal palate that encourages expressive playing.”

Scott Tennant of the LA Guitar quartet recently visited my shop and fell in love with this lattice braced Spruce Woodfield which he now owns! In fact here is a YouTube video of Scott playing his new Woodfield that he shot with his iPhone 4! http://www.youtube.com/user/ScottBPluckin#p/u/0/yf9tNBugals Other players of note to acquire a Woodfield span the globe including, Raymond Burley ( England) John Feeley (Ireland), Peter Bone, Gjermund Titlestad, Mauro Tonolli (Italy) Michael O’Toole (Ireland) and Giulio Tampalini (Italy).