Meet the Maker: David Wren

by Steve Denvir

Originally published in American Lutherie #113, 2013



David Wren is a guitar geek, in the most positive sense of the word. He makes them, for the likes of Joan Baez and Bruce Cockburn; he’s sold them, as one of the partners in The 12th Fret, the high-end guitar store in Toronto; he even photographs them, supplying studio-quality shots to a number of his guitar-making peers.

And he can talk about them. Forever. About his guitars, other makers’ guitars, the history of guitar making in Canada, what retail customers are looking for, the difference between classical and steel-string buyers, on and on. And he does it with warmth and charm and much humility, not to mention a lot of humor. If I had to put “(laughs)” every time it was appropriate, this article would be half again as long.