Biography

Born in Lincoln, England, in 1958, Christopher Dean is a gifted fine artist and guitar player, who was captivated by the instrument from an early age. Coming from a family with a long tradition of skilled craftsmanship and engineering, he combined his love of music and particularly for the works of Bach and Villa Lobos, with an instinctive interest in the form and construction of the guitar. By the age of 17 he had already produced his first instrument. He has since devoted himself to becoming a truly great guitar maker with a world-class reputation and clientele.

A graduate in musical instrument technology from the London College of Furniture, he subsequently worked alongside another of Britain’s leading makers - Paul Fischer – a relationship which was to establish Christopher Dean within the mainstream of European lutherie.

By 1985 Christopher had set up his own workshop in the heart of the Cotswolds, and has since sold guitars worldwide to an admiring and steadily growing customer base. Christopher's instruments are characterised by both their aesthetic appeal and a consistently great sound which combines balance, sustain and luminosity of tone in a distinctive and unique way, which is unmistakably his own.

Philosophy

"I’m passionate about making guitars. The transformation, as if by some form of alchemy, of beautiful but inert wood into a vibrant instrument with its own individual characteristics and personality, still fascinates and delights me. The result that I seek to achieve is a guitar that looks and sounds intuitively ‘right’ in all its proportions and aspects, and will exceed its new owner’s expectations in every way."