Meet the builder
My name is Jeroen Brandsma, born in 1989 in the city of Leeuwarden, Friesland the Netherlands. My love for the guitar began at the young age of 5 when my parents bought an album by Dire Straits (the very best of). My brother and I loved to listen to the singing guitar played by the great Mark Knopfler, the lead guitarist and songwriter of the band. We also listen a lot to Eric Clapton and The Eagles. From a young age, I always loved to work with wood, so that's what I did a lot. Through the years, I kept listening to guitar music and developed my woodworking skills. Years and years later, at the age of 21, I began to play the guitar. Fingerstyle was the way to go for me, like Mark Knopfler also played. A pick just never felt natural to me and after some lessons, I kept playing in the style of Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler, John Mayer and Tommy Emmanuel.
The name Hynder means horse in the Frisian language, and both the name and logo came to me because my granddad and even his dad were horsemen. Besides that, they were horse whisperers, which could heal them; they also were riding horses in the cavalry. I've never met my granddad because he passed away two years before I came to this earth, but family members say that I look like him. This, together with the fact that some guitarists will call a good guitar a workhorse, and I'm proud to be a Frisian, made it easy for me to come up with this name and logo for my guitar brand.
Becoming a guitar builder
In the fall of 2017, I was invited by a teacher of the university where I studied commercial economics to join him in visiting a college of his, which is a luthier (guitar builder). For a while I thought of building guitars, and I already built a small cigar box guitar while I was working on my thesis to graduate. That night changed my life because the man we were about to visit showed us his collection of hand-built guitars. I was stunned to see this pure craftsmanship and couldn't believe my eyes seeing these gems. Every guitar was built with so much love and passion. The woodwork was stunning, and the eye for detail was just superb. Electric guitars, basses, acoustics and archtops are all made from solid and precious wood. This kind and gifted man recognized my love for the process of building these instruments and said to me, If you ever want to build a guitar, I will show you how. And so my journey in the world of building guitars began.
The proces of creating
About 6 and a half years later, I have created four guitars, all differently, and this is never going to change. I love to work on special guitars, and that means that every guitar build is a one-piece and will never be duplicated for commercial purposes. Working on these limited edition high-end custom guitars enables me to keep building from a creative source, which is flowing through me with every new build. As a person, I can't work in an environment where repetitive work is the norm. I like different situations, people and the freedom to come up with new ideas. When I have an idea for building a new guitar, all of these aspects are coming to life. The search for the right pieces of wood brings me to new places, meets people, etc. Also, I talk a lot to guitar players, as I want to know how they feel like playing certain guitars and what they think of using different pickups, hardware like bridges, tuners, fret wire and combinations of wood species.
Quality above quantity
Every guitar starts with a careful selection of woods. What is important in this stage for me is that the wood is of the highest possible quality. For the necks, I only use quartersawn pieces. I have built two guitars (#001 and #002) with Hard Rock Maple necks and fretboards (sourced from the same piece of wood), Flamed European Maple and American Mahogany. I prefer to look for these pieces myself so I can take a good look at the wood, feel it, tap on it and see how the grain is. A lot of pieces don't make it for my high requirements, and sometimes it can take some time to find the right piece for the guitar I have in mind. The same goes for finding a matching fretboard, body and preferably a wooden pick guard. I think wooden pickquards really stand out and add class to a custom guitar, if it is only for the fact that it is hand made and gives the guitar an appearance of luxury and a one-of a kind look.
Creativity and vision
For selecting the pickups, electronics and hardware, I kind of use the same principal. All the parts, including the wood, will form a combination that will become the guitar I have in mind. For the S-Style #003 (Mahogany), I wanted to build a guitar with clear bell overtones when played clean and also have a mean attack when pushed into an overdrive (Stevie Ray Vaughan / John Mayer style of sound). Ultimately I think the guitar is sounding exactly like I wanted. A beautiful and wide variety of sounds will enable the player to express himself the way he wants. As I mentioned earlier in this writing, I have a keen eye for detail. Every step of the building process is handled with care and precision.
By keeping building these instruments, I know that new skills and knowledge will come to me, and I can use that to keep building better and even more appearing guitars in the future. I never had any professional schooling in building guitar, except for a couple of times that my mentors took the time to answer my questions and teach me the skill I needed at that particular moment. I'm thankful for having my mentors teach me everything I want to know, and they showed up upon my. I'm also thankful for having the talent to do this, and I have aspiration to achieve recognition as one of the top artisans in Europe. Not only that, but I know that one day my guitars will be in the hands of some of the best players in the world. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. If you love playing high-end custom guitars, you are invited to come visit me and give my guitars a try.