“I am living the dream. Growing up in the middle of the birth of American folk rock…writing poetry and dreaming of changing the world.

Well, a lot has changed over the last 50 years, but I am still writing poetry and still dreaming of changing the world. Music is the voice of change…it is where we express our passions, our visions, our frustrations, our love and our grief. Music invites us to be true to what is inside us. To what we feel and care about. So I went back to designing acoustic guitars…doing it my way…making the most beautiful sounding and feeling instruments in Bend, Oregon while campaigning to save our world’s rain and hardwood forests.

My current pride and joy is the Bedell Wildfire Series. This may be the most brilliant instrument we have crafted yet. Every piece of tonewood in the Bedell Wildfire Series came from a tree that grew in America. Every single one of the trees that gave itself to enable the Bedell Wildfire Series was either salvaged from the forest floor or individually harvested to minimize the footprint on the forest.  We never clear-cut or use any wood from a clear-cut tree. NEVER. The Bedell Wildfire is the flagship of our Bedell Home Grown Collection.

The Bedell team visited Bryan Galloup in Michigan to learn more about hand tuning each top and back to achieve the greatest harmony in resonance and sound. Yes, every tonewood set has it’s own character. To turn it into musicwood, we sand each top to the thinness that fits it’s density and then hand tune the tone bars. Marrying the stiff Adirondack tops with the stiff Big Leaf flamed maple backs, we have achieved sound efficiency that booms with liveliness and clarity. You won’t believe the sound projection we have been able to achieve. Plus, the Bedell Wildfire is gorgeous. The Fire Burst on the top, back, sides, neck and headstock accented with flamed maple binding is artwork. And we insisted on Waverly tuners and K&K electronics.”

Photo of Duncan Hand Tuning a Bedell Wildfire

“I love this guitar.  Check it out on our Bedell website and get your hands on one.”