If he builds it, they will strum: How Kent Everett crafts his beloved guitars

Kent Everett picks up a thin piece of AAA-grade Sitka spruce cut into the shape of a guitar top and glides his hand across the smooth top. “Someone found a bunch of old salmon crates in Washington state that were supposedly salvaged out of the bottom of this river,” he says. “The guy didn’t know what to do with them, and then he found out they’d be perfect for building guitars. The wood was milled from virgin spruce in Alaska a century ago, and it has just exceptional grain.”

Everett quickly bought the wood because it was some of the best spruce he had ever seen, and just any kind of wood won’t do for an Everett acoustic guitar. With a base retail price starting at $3,400 and rising to $6,400, the Everett is one of the most praised and sought-after high-end instruments in the country. Sou