WAYNE HENDERSON

Legendary Guitar Maker Wayne Henderson Climbs into his '57 T-Bird

WAYNE HENDERSON is a legendary guitar picker and luthier. Wayne was also the subject of Allen St. John’s book, Clapton’s Guitar: Watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument, and of a piece on National Public Radio.

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 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. Doc Watson, a good friend who sometimes stops at Wayne’s shop in Rugby, VA, to pick a few tunes, owns 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.
(Much of this bio is courtesy of the Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival and Guitar Competition)