william Laskin guitars
EST. 1971 | Canada
Steel String Acoustic | Classical | Flamenco
“Every guitar is a conversation between the player, the wood, and my own curiosity.”
William Laskin | Guitar maker
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Laskin is the originator of the Armrest and Ribrest body bevels, now widely adopted across contemporary luthiery, and a co-originator of the Sideport Soundhole, changing how players physically and sonically experience the instrument. His innovations are grounded in function, shaped by a deep understanding of how musicians actually play.
His guitars are internationally recognized for their tonal clarity, playability, and individuality. Each instrument is built in direct response to the player. At the same time, Laskin has redefined the role of decoration in instrument making through his pioneering inlay art. The guitar becomes a narrative surface, with engraved compositions in shell, stone, metal, and ReconStone that communicate ideas, histories, and identity.
In 1997, Laskin became the first and only musical instrument maker to receive Canada’s Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence, the country’s highest honour for fine craft. In November 2012, he was appointed to the Order of Canada in recognition of his impact on both instrument making and Canadian cultural life. His guitars are held in permanent collections and played by artists and builders around the world.
After more than five decades, Laskin continues to build each instrument to a clear standard. It must first be a superb musical tool, responsive, expressive, and alive in the hands of the player. Everything else follows from that.
laskin guitars
ABout
William “Grit” Laskin: Master Luthier, Guitar Innovator & Inlay Artist
Meet legendary Canadian luthier William “Grit” Laskin, building guitars since 1971. From pioneering ergonomic guitar bevels to world-renowned inlay art, Laskin shares his philosophy of sound, craftsmanship, and storytelling from his Toronto workshop. A master builder shaping the modern guitar.
life, women, freedom
He’s Changed The Guitar’s Form.
But, Can Guitar Makers Change The World?
Grit Laskin believes he can…
Women, Life, Freedom
"Woman, Life, Freedom" is the title of William "Grit" Laskin's newest, personal guitar. It's tells the story of Persian women in Iran and Afghanistan defying the oppressing government regimes they live under. We invited one of our favourite guitar-players Maneli Jamal, who is a Persian Canadian, to play and experience this piece of art together with us.
Laskin guitars
demo
This extraordinary 50th Anniversary mid-size guitar by master luthier Grit Laskin celebrates five decades of guitar making. Featuring Brazilian rosewood, Sitka spruce, and deeply personal inlay art honouring Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl, “Grit Gives Peggy A Hand” is both a tonal and visual masterpiece.
william “Grit” laskin
“I take pieces of trees and turn them into instruments that can stir human emotion.”
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Growing up in Hamilton, Ontario, Grit's life changed because of a simple decision made by his father, Morris. As a young man, Morris had wanted to learn guitar himself, but his own father never took the time to teach him. Determined that his son would have the opportunity he never did, he asked nine-year-old Grit if he would like to learn to play. It was a small moment that quietly shaped everything that followed.
By seventeen, Grit thought he was heading toward a career in recording. He left school to work in a Toronto studio during the final years of Yorkville's vibrant music scene, surrounded by musicians whose records he admired. Then another chance encounter redirected his life.
Holding one of Jean Larrivée's guitars in the Toronto Folklore Centre, he found himself staring at a perfectly fitted joint where two pieces of wood met so seamlessly that the glue simply disappeared. He couldn't understand how it had been done. Rather than admire the guitar, he wanted to understand it.
A few weeks later, he met Larrivée at the Mariposa Folk Festival and asked if he could learn. Timing, generosity, and a willingness to say yes opened the door. Looking back, Grit speaks less about talent than gratitude for the people who gave him opportunities when he needed them most.
Relationships have continued to shape every stage of his career.
His customers challenged him to think differently. One classical guitarist asked whether there was a way to make the guitar's edge more comfortable during long practice sessions. That conversation eventually led to the Armrest bevel. Another player wanted to hear more of her own instrument while performing alongside a cellist. Together, they experimented with an opening in the guitar's side, an idea that would evolve into the Sideport Soundhole. Grit rarely describes these as inventions. To him, they are simply examples of listening carefully and solving problems alongside musicians.
The same spirit appears in his inlay art.
What began as learning to cut shell gradually became something much more personal. Grit saw the guitar as a place where stories could live. Family histories, humour, music, nature, and even difficult social and political subjects found their way onto fingerboards and pegheads. His celebrated Persian Women Martyrs guitar, WOMEN, LIFE, FREEDOM, for example, isn't designed to persuade or lecture. It invites conversation. Like the best books or songs, his inlay asks viewers to slow down, look carefully, and decide for themselves what they see.
Outside the workshop, Grit has always found ways to build communities as well as instruments. He helped co-found the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans in 1988 and later wrote its first Code of Ethics. As a musician, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, he became deeply involved in Canada's folk community, co-founding Borealis Records in 1996 and helping establish the Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2005.
Writing became another way to tell stories. His books include The World of Musical Instrument Makers (1987), one of North America's first books celebrating contemporary instrument makers; A Guitarmaker's Canvas (2003), exploring his evolving approach to inlay art; and Grand Complications: 50 Guitars + 50 Stories (2016), revealing the ideas behind some of his most meaningful instruments. He has also written two novels, Angel Could Smell the Fire (1996) and The Stradivari Formula (2024), continuing his lifelong fascination with craftsmanship, creativity, and the people behind them.
His work has earned many of Canada's highest honours, including the Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence in 1997, making him the first and only musical instrument maker to receive the distinction, the Estelle Klein Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and appointment to the Order of Canada in 2012.
Yet spend an afternoon with Grit, and those achievements are rarely what he talks about.
He talks about his father.
About Jean Larrivée.
About his wife, Judith.
About musicians, friends, customers, and teachers.
About a piece of wood that behaved differently than expected.
About the satisfaction of a perfectly fitted joint.
About the privilege of taking pieces of trees and turning them into something capable of stirring human emotion.
In the end, perhaps that is what defines William "Grit" Laskin.
Not simply the guitars he has built, but the relationships he has built through them.
life with strings attached | ep 100
In this milestone 100th episode of Life With Strings Attached, we return to where it all began with William “Grit” Laskin. More than five decades into his career, Laskin reflects on guitar making as both craft and inquiry, exploring how perception shapes sound, how innovation emerges from experience, and what it means to remain an artisan in a rapidly changing world.
Recorded in his Toronto workshop, this conversation offers a deeper look into the thinking behind the work, where instruments are not only built to perform, but to carry meaning over time.
life with strings attached | ep 1
Jamie Gale speaks with legendary luthier William “Grit” Laskin about guitar making, sound perception, and the enduring mysteries of the instrument. A thoughtful conversation on craftsmanship, innovation, and what it means to be an artisan in a digital age.
group of seven Project Profiles
Grit Laskin on Inlay Art, Craft & Inspiration
In this Group of Seven Guitar Project profile, master luthier William “Grit” Laskin reflects on his early fascination with guitar making and the evolution of his groundbreaking inlay art. Drawing inspiration from painter Frederick Varley, Laskin reveals how storytelling, portraiture, and deep research shape his approach to guitars as artistic narratives.
