Peter Madill

Peter Madill

Also known as: Madill Guitars, Madill

Unclaimed

Peter Madill is a New Zealand luthier who has built handmade stringed instruments since the mid-1960s. Based in Levin on the North Island, he operates Madill Guitars and has previously worked out of Dunedin, Auckland, and Wellington over the course of his career. Inspired to take up guitar-making after attending a Peter, Paul and Mary concert as a teenager, he taught himself the craft and refin...

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Peter Madill is a New Zealand luthier who has built handmade stringed instruments since the mid-1960s. Based in Levin on the North Island, he operates Madill Guitars and has previously worked out of Dunedin, Auckland, and Wellington over the course of his career. Inspired to take up guitar-making after attending a Peter, Paul and Mary concert as a teenager, he taught himself the craft and refined his technique after discovering proper X-bracing through Sing Out magazine.

Madill's catalog spans jumbo, standard, small-body, and classical acoustic guitars, alongside 12-strings, basses, mandolins, 5-string violins, dulcimers, lutes, and violas da gamba. Each instrument is a one-off rather than a production model, and he is known for taking a custom-design approach rather than replicating Martin or Gibson templates. In the late 1970s he ran the Stringed Instrument Company in partnership with apprentice Cath Newhook before stepping away from lutherie in the late 1980s to design furniture, returning to instrument-building in 2007.

His guitars have been played by figures from the New Zealand music scene including Split Enz members Phil Judd and Mike Chunn, comedian-musician Billy T James, The Eastern, Living Force, Martha Louise, and Mark Mazengarb.

Peter Madill has 2 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Steel-string Acoustic Guitars and Electric Basses. Their gear is featured by 2 artists, with the strongest followings in Rock and Pop. Notable users include Phil Judd and Mike Chunn.

Artists Who Use Peter Madill

Phil Judd uses 1 Peter Madill product

Phil Judd

Singer · Split Enz

Mike Chunn uses 1 Peter Madill product

Mike Chunn

Bassist · Split Enz

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