William Okos has dedicated his life to guitars. For decades he has helped reveal the soul and song of the instrument.

Ever since building his first custom-made guitar in 1984, he has been hooked.

“It is made with Brazilian rosewood, with a Sitka Spruce top, I was trying to go for as much British Columbia as possible but that time in 1984 there wasn’t a lot of Canadian wood,” said Okos with  William Okos Music Studio.

It takes Okos four months to build the perfect custom-built guitars that are tailored to his clients’ bodies and genre. He says it all starts with the right wood.

“It has to sit in my shop generally about a month or month and a half just to get acclimatized to the area itself. Then I start the process,” said Okos.

“First thing that gets done is the thinning and joining, then everything. Like for the sides, they get bent first, then I’ll build the top and the back all of these little braces. These are all hand-carved braces and tuned so that this instrument will produce the best tone possible.”

Okos does this all at his house that he has converted into his studio in Summerland.

“At the end of the build I can’t wait to play it,” said Okos.

“[I can’t wait to] hear what they sound like because I have got a pretty good idea as I am tapping it out and I am putting it together, I can hear pretty good what is going to happen with this piece.”

In between his custom builds and repairs he is now teaching the next generation of Luthiers how to reveal the voice of the instruments they create.

For more information about Okos and his custom-built designs, visit his website www.williamokosmusic.com

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