Handcrafted
Carbon fibre craftsman’s instruments impress
WATERLOO — For all intents and purposes, Mike Pawson is a luthier, a maker of stringed instruments. Pawson doesn’t quite see it that way. “I’m not a musician,” the Waterloo man says. “And I don’t call myself a luthier. I’m just a guy who knows how to make stuff.”
The “stuff ” he makes, however — the guitars he started with, and the carbon fibre harps he specializes in now — look beautiful and, more important, sound heavenly.
His handcrafted Hayden Harps, named for one of his grandchildren, have been sold to musicians across North America and around the world. He’s got a four-month waiting list for his small, 24-string travel harps, which take about eight to 10 weeks to complete.
It’s a home-based business, with his wife, Annie, looking after the books. “I never set out to start a company,” Pawson, 69, says with a laugh. “If you set out to try and make a harp company, it would be so impossible.”
As Pawson tells it, the Hayden Harps story is one of chance meetings and happy coincidences, built on a hobby that itself was born of experience.
The story began years ago when Pawson set out to make a left-handed guitar for his son. With the first one under his belt, “I sort of got carried away and made a bunch of guitars” for his son and others.
Pawson has been making things all his life, with a career involving reinforced plastics and experience with adhesives and mould and pattern-making. After retiring about 10 years ago, he went back to making guitars, exploring alternative materials to wood.
He spent at least a year experimenting with carbon fibre and developing his first Meadow guitar (named for a granddaughter) made from the material.
“This is not just a little bit stronger than wood,” he says. “It’s really absurdly strong.”
He made and sold about 20 guitars, primarily to travelling musicians. The lighter yet stronger guitars aren’t affected by temperature or humidity changes, but don’t make any sacrifices on sound quality.
“I’ve played several of his guitars and prototypes throughout the years,” says Bob Egan, the former Wilco and Blue Rodeo musician and founder of Bob’s Guitar Service. “They’re world-class.”
Pawson is selling guitars at a reduced rate to raise funds for 100 Guitars for 100 Kids, a nonprofit co-founded by Egan that gives the instruments to less-fortunate children.
But since 2014, Pawson’s focus has shifted to harps. That’s the year he met a man named Don Peddle at a guitar show.
Peddle, a harp specialist, wanted to know more about carbon fibre. And Pawson, as it happened, was interested in making a small harp for his niece.
“I was happy with my guitars. I had reached a point where I hadn’t made any significant changes,” he says. “All of a sudden, I had a new carrot dangled in front of me.”
The pair collaborated, with Pawson producing Peddle’s design in carbon fibre.
Since then, Pawson has made more than 40 harps; they’re priced at US$1,950, including accessories such as a rugged case. Most of Pawson’s materials come from the United States, and that’s where most of his harps have ended up. They’re promoted on his website, at a handful of annual harp shows, and through word of mouth.
“He’s kind of the boutique guy,” Egan says. “I think he kind of owns the alternative material mini-harp market.”
The cases, interestingly, are made in Waterloo by Tube Pro — a company founded by Pawson, now owned by his son, Bill, that specializes in snow and river tubes.
Pawson completely made the first 10 harps himself; the back section of the harp is now produced by a Strathroy firm to help Pawson keep up with demand.
He uses a 25-year-old resin formula, and cures his parts with time instead of heat. “Modern techniques weren’t going to give me the tonal quality I was looking for,” he says. The result is a balanced, mellow, wooden sound.
“You don’t meet too many mediocre harp players. Most of them are very, very good,” Pawson says. “They generally have a distinct idea of what they want to hear.”
Building on the success of his 24-string harps, he’s making a larger, 30-string version, as well as a doublestrung harp with two soundboards and strings on both sides. He also wants to make ukuleles.
“When a really talented harpist picks up my harp, that’s my reward when I get to sit there and listen,” he says.
“It’s tremendously satisfying. It’s pretty wonderful to have that feeling and to know that your work is being appreciated.”