Q: How do you introduce a builder who seems new to the AGF community but who really isn't new at all??
A: Have him build a guitar! 
Ben Wilborn has been an AGF sponsor since October of 2015.
This build will be #137 for Ben...number 137 you say??? How does a guy who has built so many fly so far under our radar here at AGF?? In fact, I don't recall seeing any of his guitars for sale in the classified section of AGF...and you can trust that if they were there I wouldn't have missed them. some may remember that two of his builds for TAMCO were featured here in the custom area several years back.
Recently Ben donated one of his builds at the Woodstock Guitar Festival to raise money for some needy causes. Ben is a great guy and lots of fun as well!!
One thing that makes Ben somewhat different than many builders is his musical background and skills on a guitar. He's a
talented builder who is also a talented player. Go out and do a YouTube search and you'll find him playing his own guitars. Take a listen and his skills will remind you that he studied music at Berklee College of Music.
Here is something I clipped from his website that I think will give you all a feel for who he is and what he does when he builds:
"I have spent my whole life listening closely to wood and strings, always searching for that special quality that makes an instrument demand to be played. I have studied these amazing creations, listening to the way they respond to my fingertips, their weight and balance, the way they reflect sounds in a room.
I am a lifelong musician. I graduated from The Berklee College of Music, where I studied ear-training, composition and performance. I bring to the shop not only decades of study of musical tone, texture and knowledge of the requirements a player demands from his or her instrument, but also a complete dedication to the art of building. I love all musical instruments, but nothing moves me like the guitar, with its full, complex sound, and its capacity to function like a whole orchestra. It is a truly complete instrument.
My guitars are lightly built, because I treasure responsiveness and tone above all else, but I also work on the leading edge of modern building technique so that my work will last a lifetime. It is my passion as a builder to create instruments that can respond intimately to a player’s intention, and become as much an extension of the body as a beautiful tool for the creation of music."
So, I guess you could call it
my privilege to "reintroduce" Ben to the AGF Custom area. I'm gonna do it with this build he is starting for me in a matter of days. I was fortunate a while back to find a spot in his calendar and I was able to find some AMAZING woods in his stash. Below you'll see pictures of the woods. The build will be his EllieBelle (with a cutaway) which is a smaller body guitar with a 15" lower bout and waist forward design. The top will be Sinker Redwood, and the back and sides some very cool Brazilian showing a little petticoat (aka: sapwood) ha!. One picture here shows some very cool Pau Ferro that may show up in the binding scheme.
It's almost showtime so let me introduce the "Cast and Crew"... 
First up...some very cool Brazilian:
Next, some really pure Sinker Redwood with some nice silking:
with a little "juice" added to the woods (sinker on right) with the Pau Ferro in the middle, you get a better feel for the color:
All of these guys/woods below will play a part in my guitar. Imagine, as you have on manyoccasions, a few hunks of wood that in the next few months will be a stunning instrument...I'm always amazed at the process.
