My name is Gerry Gruber and I have been building fine-quality custom guitars since 1999. I have also been playing the guitar for the past 38 years, and during that time have come to realize that a guitar can be much more than what the factories would have us accept. My vision is to build a guitar for you that meets every expectation you have for your once-in-a-lifetime guitar.

I am a member of the Guild of American Luthiers and of the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans. I exhibited the 12-string guitar (depicted on the right) at the 2006 Guild of American Luthiers convention in Seattle.

My building methods have been largely influenced by William R. Cumpiano and Jonathan D. Natelson in their excellent book, Guitarmaking—Tradition and Technology. My climate-controlled workshop is located in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada), where I have access to some of the best tone woods in the world.

A little about the name “Xaver” Guitars… pronounced x-offer, as in “an offer to help”. My luthier practice is dedicated to my grandfather, Franz Xaver Gruber, who inspired me to begin to build guitars. My grandfather never built a guitar, but there was little else he did not make out of wood. He was a cabinet-maker by trade, before he emigrated to Canada from Germany in 1927. In Canada, he operated a grain and cattle farm, but continued with his wood-working when time allowed and necessity dictated. In his retirement, he began to build miniature horse-drawn wagons, buggies, and sleighs. Here is a small sample of his work.