Yeah… I know, I've “disappeared from guitar planet� for the past six plus years. After 21 years at Fender, including co-founding and running the Custom Shop for 12 years, I left in 1998 to create the Fender Museum and the Kids Rock Free Education Programs. After that was up and running, I decided to move on again.

In January of 2002 I started my latest chapter… working full-time on my artwork. I moved to a little place called Sunny Valley, Oregon, built my new shop and home, and started working on stuff that's been in my head for years. It's been very cool… and a lot of work.

I'm going to try to keep in better contact, in fact I've been working on a detailed interview with Tom Watson, one of the editors of this magazine and Strat Collector News, for almost a year now… extremely patient man, Tom. That should be out soon, so the details of what's been happening will be in that.

For now, I thought I would show you some of my latest work. I still haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up… a guitar designer/builder, a woodworker or an artist… so I keep mixing them all together to see what comes up. The “Yemaya Accent Curio� is in the Sherwood Gallery in Laguna Beach California, and the “NG-2 Cranberry Candlestick Holders� are in Ashland Hardwoods Gallery up here in Ashland Oregon.

Yemaya Accent Curio

NG-2 Cranberry Candlestick Holders

Talk to you again soon.

John