My guest today is Jerome Little, founder of Torzal Guitars and the mind behind the Natural Twist.

Jerome’s story begins in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where making things, solving problems, and figuring things out for yourself were simply part of growing up. He started playing bass as a teenager, studied music and acoustics at Hampshire College, and eventually brought those interests together when he began asking a deceptively simple question: why should a musician have to adapt their body to an instrument?

That question became his college thesis, the Natural Twist, and the beginning of a career that would put Jerome in the company of some remarkable instrument makers. He worked with Ken Parker during the production years of the Parker Fly, later joined Bill Collings in Austin, and carried lessons from both into a design philosophy that remains distinctly his own.

Our conversation moves through those formative experiences, the mentors who shaped him, the realities of ergonomics and repetitive injury, and his continuing search for better ways to build instruments, using materials intelligently, challenging convention, and never treating tradition as the end of the conversation.

Jerome is curious, thoughtful, and, perhaps most importantly, a maker who actually does something with his ideas.

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Jerome. I hope that you do as much as I did.

To learn more about Jerome Little and Torzal Guitars, check out https://www.boutiqueguitarshowcase.com/torzal-guitars

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase
🔗 Jamie Gale

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

Today's guest is luthier and architect Simon Padalka, a guitar maker with few peers.

In this conversation, we talk about the dramatic events that unfolded at the end of the 2025 Boutique Guitar Showcase enTour season, when the Padalka guitar that sold on tour was caught in a truck fire in Phoenix, Arizona. Thought lost, then to everyone's surprise, the guitar popped up again for sale a few weeks later, thickening an already unusual plot.

We talk about how to handle the tough situations that we inevitably encounter in business and life, the importance of keeping it cool when things get tough and how to make a Phoenix rise from the ashes of destruction.

If you care about boutique guitars, guitar designs, rare instruments or the human side of making and repairing things that are meant to last, this one is packed with insights, stories and a few moments you won't hear anywhere else.

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with Simon Padalka, and I hope that you do as much as I did.

To learn more about Simon Padalka and Padalka Guitars, check out https://www.boutiqueguitarshowcase.com/padalka-guitars

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase
🔗 Jamie Gale

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

In this episode, I speak with Lisbon-based artist, musician, and instrument designer André Gonçalves of ADDAC System.

For sixteen years, André has explored modular synthesis, experimental music, and the physical interfaces that make electronic sound feel immediate and human. His ADDAC120 Four String Series brings those worlds together, integrating guitar strings, pickups, motors, bows, and resonators into a modular synthesizer environment.

Our conversation moves through the future of musical instruments, the importance of touch, the emotional connections we form with our tools, and why technological exploration so often leads us back to strings.

This is a conversation about experimentation, physicality, and creating the instruments you want to use.

I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with André. I hope that you do as much as I did.

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase
🔗 Jamie Gale

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.