About Lowel Guitars

How we got here

In the mid ‘80s, when Aaron Henderson began playing the guitar, the terms “authentic” and “artisanal” were not daily vernacular cut and pasted on as a cheap attempt to brand the latest trust-fund startup. “Slow food” was just cooking like your grandma. “Hand sewn” was just fixing the tear in your jeans.

Northwest Ohio was a place, in those times, that defined DIY by doing whatever it took, from building your own halfpipes, putting on your own punk shows, or repairing your friends’ guitars before the term DIY even reached our ears. Not because of a trend, or speculative insight for the next behavior to be labeled authentic, but out of necessity, and the pure desire for something better.

Something better than waiting for the tidbits of mainstream or “counter-culture” on the coasts to trickle over to the Midwest, be it in music, arts, or mass-produced instruments at the local pawn shop. It was the drive for something better from the pure knowledge that if we could build our own ramps, to fit our sloping backyards, or put on our own shows, when no bands toured through town, why wouldn’t you build your own guitar, to express your own passion?

This is why Aaron has been making beautiful, playable, Lowel guitars, built in his own workshop since 1995. With precise fretwork and handcrafted bodies, often for less cost than factory guitars shipped to the U.S. on container ships, bounced about distribution centers, and hung on store displays without any thought of the musician.

Aaron slowed production a few years to focus on raising his son and constructing an entirely new shop, and is excited to now offer a selection of stunning, solid, affordable US-made guitars, from his hands to yours.

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