Wayne Henderson’s 1,000th guitar celebrated on November 2 – photo © G. Nicholas Hancock
Wayne C. Henderson built his first serial numbered guitar (#1) in 1964 at the age of 16. On Sunday, October 25th, 2026, at the age of 78, he completed building and strung up his 1,000th guitar. That guitar, and the noted Rugby, VA luthier, were both celebrated this past Sunday at The Walker Center on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, NC.
Approximately 600 people from all over the US and the surrounding area were on hand to show their appreciation for Wayne Henderson, the man and friend, as well as Wayne C. Henderson the luthier. More than 150 of them brought their guitars, mandolins, or dulcimers that Henderson had made during the past 60 plus years. It was a literal who’s who of guitar pickers from the amateur at-home pickers to champions in guitar flatpicking and fingerpicking at prestigious competitions such as at Winfield, KS; Galax, VA; and the Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival to professionals like Nashville singer/songwriter Presley Barker.
No, Eric Clapton and Vince Gill, both Henderson guitar owners, were not there, but they were probably invited. Some other noted guitar pickers present and performing were:
- Redd Volkaert, a Canadian guitarist and musician now living in southwest Virginia. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitar players in the modern era and is “among the country’s top Fender Telecaster guitar slingers.” Volkaert has been the lead guitarist of choice for country artists such as Merle Haggard, George Jones, and Johnny Paycheck.
- L.T. Smooth (Leon Toomata), a slack-key (traditional Hawaiian fingerstyle genre of guitar playing) guitarist/singer/songwriter, who flew from Hawaii to be there. Smooth, originally from New Zealand, is a popular performer in the Hawaiian Islands.
- Eric Hardin from Warrensville, NC, has won both the National Bluegrass Banjo Competition and the National Flat Pick Guitar Competition at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS, as well as at guitar championships at the Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention, and he is a three-time champion at the Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival.
- Allen Shadd from Lake Wylie, SC, is a three-time champion at the National Flat Pick Guitar Competition at Winfield, KS (1997, 2013, 2019). Shadd has also won 1st places at the MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Championship (1998), RockyGrass guitar championship (2007), and three times at the Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival guitar competition (2007, 2013, 2023).
- Jesse Smith from Wadsworth, Ohio, a retired high school carpentry teacher, was the 2021 International Finger Style Guitar Champion in Winfield KS, and the winner of the 2019 Wayne Henderson Music Festival guitar competition.
During the nearly two hours of performances in the auditorium, the pickers ranged in age from Luke Church, 11, to Sam Barnard, 92, from Roanoke, VA.
Also present was Croft Wilson, a teenager from Yulee, Florida. Croft’s grandfather, Don Wilson, became a friend of Wayne’s many years ago and would visit Wayne in his shop during the summer months since he had summer home in nearby Elk Creek. Don Wilson went from “shop loafer” to working with Wayne to help him make guitars. Wilson became a guitar maker himself. Croft owns and plays his grandfather’s 100th guitar.
Other luthiers at the event were Rufus Thames from Bristol, VA, and Caleb Smith from Waynesville, NC, who is also lead vocalist and guitar player for Balsam Range.
And some were present who are “on the list” in the hopes of getting Wayne to make a guitar for them. One of those was Elliot King, 15, from Carthage, NC. Elliot is now winning 1st place in adult guitar competitions in North Carolina and Virginia, and he is studying music at the UNC School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC. He also plays bass fiddle in the up-and-coming teenage bluegrass band called Denim & Plaid.
Those who aren’t Henderson guitar owners were there because of some other friendship connection with Wayne. Some were more “shop loafers,” those people who are friends of Henderson and hang out in his guitar shop on both weekdays and weekends.
Wayne C. Henderson was born on May 3, 1947, in Rugby, VA in Grayson County where he still resides today. He is primarily known for making guitars, but he also occasionally makes mandolins, mountain dulcimers, and sometimes banjos. At an early age he developed a unique style of using a thumbpick and fingerpicks, like his father played on banjo, making his playing sound like flatpicking similar to that of Doc Watson, one of Henderson’s musical influences. Before he began making guitars and other instruments full-time, he was a rural mail carrier in the southwest Virginia area. His reputation for making guitars led someone to say, “There are decent guitars and there are very good guitars, and then there are the Hendersons.”
Henderson has built guitars for many notable musicians such as Tommy Emmanuel, Doc Watson, Peter Rowan, Gillian Welch, Ricky Skaggs, as well as for Vince Gill and Eric Clapton as mentioned above. In 1995, in a White House ceremony, he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by President Bill Clinton in recognition of his extraordinary instrument-making.
Wayne told the audience Sunday that making an instrument is pretty simple. “You just get a piece of wood and a sharp pocketknife and start cutting away what don’t look like a guitar, and when you’re through you’ve got a guitar. Same thing goes for making a mandolin,” he said.
However, the gathering Sunday afternoon and evening was about much more than a man whittling away what don’t look like ainstrument to make his 1,000th guitar. It was also about celebrating long-term friendships. It was about honoring a man who has always presented himself as an honorable person, a man who truly cares about his friends and acquaintances, whether they own a Henderson guitar or not.
After the music performances and accolades were said and resaid, Wayne C. Henderson spoke to the audience and said, “All I can say is thank you. Thank you all.”
And he meant it.
