Phil Bard

Two common elements have run through the personal and professional endeavors of Phil’s life: artistry and craftsmanship. Whether it’s his work as a furniture builder, a commercial and fine-art photographer, a winemaker or now as a builder of guitars and amps, the intersection of art and craft is at the heart of whatever he creates. “Meticulous” doesn’t even begin to capture the depth of his obsession with quality. 

Guitars have been part of Phil’s life for 50 years. He was in rock bands in both high school and college, although they were limited by the fact that, in those days, amps only went up to 10. As a life-long player and lover of Les Pauls, and also a guy who started woodworking at age 12 in his dad’s workshop, it was probably inevitable that one day he would build a reproduction of one. So he did – and that led him to start tinkering with his own designs. And suddenly Bard Guitars was born, soon afterwards followed by Bard Amplification.