After a lifetime of involvement with guitars & music, from restoring and repairing guitars to playing in rock bands, Ridgeway Guitars came into being in early "noughties" 

Being a native of Liverpool and going through his teens in the 1960's, it's only natural that Dave would be drawn into the exciting new "Merseybeat" music of that era, and it wasn't long before he picked up a guitar for the first time at the tender age of 15 in an attempt to emulate his heroes. 

Leaving school at 16 Dave served an engineering apprenticeship within the marine industry, and it was here with a few mates that the first 'proper' gigging bands were formed as he took on the role of lead singer and bass player. Eventually they went on to play in many pubs and clubs around Liverpool & North Wales

At 21 the apprenticeship was left behind, and in 1972 he started work for BT as an engineer, a job he did for 22 years until redundancy came knocking in 1993. Dave carried on playing in in rock bands and doing an ever increasing amount of gigs 'til 1976 when he and his brand new wife moved away from Liverpool to a new house, his bass guitars were then hung up for the foreseeable future.   

Over the following years he was frequently to be found with a spray gun, welding torch or odd bits of engine in his hands in his spare time, either helping out his Dad (who ran his own car repair business) at his garage, or at home restoring a classic car of some kind.   After redundancy from BT, ownership of his own successful photography business followed but that was forced into closure due to ill health in 2000.

Being  a frustrated and poor player, Dave decided long ago that his talents lay more in the direction of making and repairing guitars rather than treating an unsuspecting world to his tuneless talents!

A partial return to health soon saw him once again "messing about" with guitars, and the natural progression from restoring and repairing them was to build one from scratch.  Such was the success of the first "Ridgeway" that more were planned and made.  Dave drew on his engineering skills & background for the technicalities - and his love of making things for inspiration. 

 Intense study of the craft of guitar making followed, and the large double garage at the side of the family home was converted to a purpose built workshop and office.  In 2001 the first guitar to bear the Ridgeway name was made for his son Ben, who by then (almost in his teens) was becoming a very accomplished young guitarist. 

Never one to rush a job but (almost) always getting it right, Dave's philosophy is one of always putting quality above quantity.  Great pride is taken in whatever is produced here at Ridgeway Guitars, be it a new guitar made from scratch, a full blown restoration or the  fitting of a simple switch, the attention to detail is of paramount importance, no matter how big or small a job is ! 

The Workshop

Dave lives in Lancashire with his family,  schoolteacher wife Liz,  son Ben, and Jarvis Cocker - their daft Orange Roan Cocker Spaniel!  They also have a daughter Lizzi who is a post graduate of Edinburgh University. She now lives in Vancouver, where she works in animal research for the University of British Columbia. 

Recent years have seen Dave returning to another  love of his youth - motorcycling.  Now a "veteran" born again biker of over 10 years - and a few motorcycle tours under his belt. A website containing stories and pictures of a few bike trips and other travels has been put together and can be found here:

Bike tours website 
(Opens new Window)