At the tip of Africa in a wild and beautiful place with the whimsical name of Scarborough, lives Marc Maingard in his unique and charming self-built home with his lady Tracey and their 5 children.
Marc is a luthier of fine repute as well as being an accomplished musician, entertainer and composer. Marc was born in Durban South Africa to French immigrant and traces its lineage to 1350. A legacy of craftsmen, musicians, artists, lute and viol makers to the French court. In his early years Marc received formal piano and violin training playing in the Natal Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, he later took up the guitar and performed as a professional musician in South African and Europe.
Unable to have his guitar repaired in the early 70’s, forced Marc to attempt the work himself. “Voila” He subsequently flourished as a repairman and now devotes his life to guitar construction and restoration. To further hone his skills Marc apprenticed to a cabinet maker studying, amongst other things, marquetry and French polishing. This combined with a year making violins and cellos set the foundation for his developing talent. While in the USA he worked with Santa Cruz guitar company making acoustic guitars and later with Jimmy d’Aquisto perfecting his Jazz instruments. He also spent time with Martin, Gibson and Ovation and is now their sole authorized repair person in South Africa.
For three years Marc performed in Spain and took the opportunity to refine his current line of Nylon concert classical guitars. Each instrument has been assigned the wishes of the client and carries this personality throughout the process. Marc is an old world craftsman and each top is graduated and tuned by hand to give maximum resonance and sustain. Likewise it is voiced to assure that the balance and tone remain consistent or altered to accommodate the needs of the client.
It is the intent of Maingard guitars to present the player a sophisticated instrument with well developed complex overtones and harmonics that will mature, inspire and challenge the guitarist throughout a lifetime.
