From HOUSTON CHRONICLE by Robert Stanton…
Stephen Raphael Marchione gently picks up a guitar body and listens intently as he lightly thumps the spruce wood.
If the wood is too thick, the pitch will be too high and more scraping is needed to thin it. If the wood is too thin, the final product won’t be structurally sound.
“Your job as an instrument maker is to find that sweet spot where it’ll have the right tone,” Marchione said in his Montrose workshop.
Marchione, 46, creates beautiful, one-of-a-kind custom guitars. His clients include Mark Whitfield, Paul Simon and Mark Knopfler.
“Designing is an art in and of itself,” he said. “Then there’s the execution of the design, the sculpting of the parts and the application of the finish – and it still hasn’t fulfilled its purpose.

“The purpose,” he said, “is for the musician to take it and make music on it. The result will be that somebody will hear that music. And when I’m that person, it’s fabulous. It’s awesome.”