About McClellan Guitars

 I’ve been building things and trying to make music for as long as I can remember. My dad was a contractor in the South Carolina Lowcountry, and my parents were musicians, so I was exposed to woodworking and music from a very young age. Some of my earliest memories are visiting job sites with my dad and brothers and hearing my parents play guitar and piano. When I was about 8 years old, I made a drum kit using leftover construction materials: 5 gal buckets with different levels of water in them, a piece of tin was my snare, and I had a metal trashcan lid for a cymbal. I guess that was the first instrument I ever made.

By the time I was in high school, I was gravitating towards the finer aspects of woodworking and was working for my dad or other local builders over summers or holiday breaks. I’ve also played guitar since I was 10, which has become a huge part of my life. After an unsuccessful year at college, I moved back to the Lowcountry, where I worked for several contractors in the Charleston, SC area for a few years. In 2006 I attended a small lutherie trade school outside of Atlanta, GA, where I worked for about a year and a half post-graduation. With a solid background in shop, woodworking, and playing guitar, lutherie came very naturally to me and my passion was ignited. I learned so much there but realized I had so much more to learn. Over the next few years, I built cabinetry and furniture as a main source of income and built and repaired guitars as a hobby. In 2010 my wife and I relocated to Pendleton, SC, and in 2011 I was fortunate enough to move into the shop on Pendleton Square, where I’m still located today. In this shop, I was mainly building and doing custom cabinetry and furniture and doing some antique refinishing. I was also playing a lot of music and wanted a better acoustic guitar. I couldn’t afford a nice one, so I built one.

That was the best decision I could have made. Up until that point, I'd mainly made electric guitars and bases and only a handful of acoustics. It was an excellent dreadnought style guitar and got much attention in the local music community. As a result, I built a few more for friends of mine. After about 6 acoustic guitars, I realized I was consistently building pretty nice instruments and thought maybe something more could come of it. I started studying steel string acoustic guitar building with a purpose, reading everything I could get my hands on, acquiring better tools, and making the necessary jigs and templates. I also realized that I was absolutely hooked, and there was no turning back- this is what I was made for. I started spreading the word through the local music community and doing a lot of instrument repair while also taking on fewer and fewer cabinetry and furniture jobs. In 2021 I took the leap of faith and started focusing solely on building heirloom quality guitars. 

My building style has become a blend of traditional and contemporary methods, and my process continues to evolve as I learn new things and try new techniques. From fit and finish to tone and playability, I'm very happy with the guitars I'm building today. I average around 120 hours per guitar, most of my work is commissioned, and I enjoy working closely with clients to produce an instrument we can both be proud of.