Wayne C. Henderson is an American guitar maker who specializes in the crafting of handmade, custom acoustic guitars. He also occasionally makes other stringed instruments, such as mandolins, banjos, and fiddles. He is based in Rugby, in Grayson County, Virginia where he was born on May 3, 1947.  Henderson’s guitars are inspired by the great pre-World War II guitars of C.F. Martin & Company, and are hand-built in limited quantities; by October 2012, over five hundred Henderson guitars had been constructed.  In a 1995 White House ceremony, he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship in recognition of his extraordinary instrument-making. The book Clapton’s Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument (2005) outlined the process by which Henderson built a guitar for Eric Clapton.

Source: Wikipedia

Wayne Henderson’s top-notch finger-picking is a source of great pleasure and pride to his friends, family and neighbors in Grayson County, Virginia. His guitar playing has also been enjoyed at Carnegie Hall, in three national tours of Masters of the Steel-String Guitar, and in seven nations in Asia.

In addition to his reputation as a guitarist, Henderson is a ‘luthier’ [a craftsman who makes stringed instruments”) of great renown. He is a recipient of a 1995 National Heritage Award presented by the National Endowment for the Arts. He produces about 20 instruments a year, mostly guitars; he is almost as well-known for the mandolins he has made. Good friend Doc Watson owned a Henderson mandolin. He said, “That Henderson mandolin is as good as any I’ve had my hands on. And that’s saying a lot, because I’ve picked up some good ones.”

Some of Henderson’s instruments are intricately decorated but are most respected for their volume, tone, and resonance. Blues guitarist John Cephas said that Wayne Henderson “is probably the most masterful guitar maker in this whole United States.” There is a waiting list for Henderson’s guitars made up of the famous (and not-so-famous).

Above and beyond his great talents as a musician and luthier, Wayne Henderson is known as a “friend to everyone” and shares his talents and knowledge unselfishly.

The Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition was established in 1995 to express appreciation for this living legend. A portion of the proceeds from the Festival are placed into a scholarship fund to aid local young musicians in continuing their educations.

Source: http://www.waynehenderson.org/

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Whilst on our ‘Blue Ridge Mountains’ 2011 tour, visiting the Blue Ridge Music Center during our stay in Galax, Virginia I came across a book “Clapton’s Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument” . I was intreagued and as a fan of Eric Clapton I bought the book. That evening I read the first chapter which referred to Wayne’s workshop based in Rugby, Virginia – amazingly only a few miles from where we were staying. ‘Curiosity Killed The Cat’, as they say, so we decided to take a trip to discover his workshop. With the help of my trusty satnav (a mobile one brought from home – these were the times when satnavs were freestanding not integral to car dashboards) we found Rugby and, having details of his workshop I spotted where it was (or I thought I had). There was only one way to find out and as this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, we decided to knock the door and say ‘hello’! Wayne answered the door and welcomed us in. We spent a delighful hour there whilst Wayne showed us round, explained the process of guitar making and played a few of his guitars. A wonderful experience meeting a very friendly living legend guitar builder which we shall always treasure. These are a few of the photos.

Wayne only builds so many guitars each year and there’s a renowned long waiting list of customers. There’s a fabulous story of when Eric requested Wayne to build him a guitar – it’s all in the book….

About the book …

“Living and working in Rugby, Virginia (population 7), retired rural mail carrier Wayne Henderson is a true American original, making America’s finest instruments using little more than a pile of good wood and a sharp whittling knife. There’s a 10-year waiting list for Henderson’s heirloom acoustic guitars—and even a musical legend like Eric Clapton must wait his turn. Partly out of self-interest, St. John prods Henderson into finally building Clapton’s guitar, and soon we get to pull up a dusty stool and watch this Stradivari in glue-stained blue jeans work his magic. The story that ensues will captivate you with its portrait of a world where craftsmanship counts more than commerce, and time is measured by old jokes, old-time music, and homemade lemon pies shared by good friends”.

Source: Google Books

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There are several YouTube videos about Wayne, here is one – a documentary made by Joshua T. Farnsworth just afer we visited:

The same guitar !