Drew Heinonen

T. Drew Heinonen Acoustic Guitars — Minnesota's Next Great Guitarmaker

Drew Heinonen's path to lutherie began in a college course called The Physics of Sound, a lab-based study of wave propagation, harmonic relationships, and the vibrational behavior of plates, strings, and air. That scientific curiosity about how acoustic instruments actually work has never left him, and it runs through everything he builds today from his solo workshop in Grand Marais, Minnesota, on the shores of Lake Superior.

After completing degrees in Religion and Philosophy, Drew enrolled in the Guitar Repair and Building program at Southeast Tech in Red Wing, Minnesota. While there he met Dana Bourgeois at a voicing seminar, and upon graduation was invited to join the Bourgeois Guitars shop in Lewiston, Maine, where he spent nearly four and a half years as a binding and body specialist, working on neck construction, jig development, surface preparation, and final voicing. He then spent two full build seasons working alongside Jim Olson in Circle Pines, Minnesota, contributing to over eighty guitars built under one of the most respected names in American lutherie. By the time Drew built his first guitar under his own name, he had played a direct role in the creation of approximately 1,600 instruments. Dana Bourgeois put it plainly: Drew was among the very best we've seen, a detail guy and a big picture guy at the same time, an accomplished player who knows how a real guitar is supposed to sound, play, and feel. Jim Olson was equally direct: I expect great things from him.

Built for the Player, Not the Spec Sheet

Drew approaches every instrument as an individual, matching the inherent acoustic qualities of each specific piece of wood to the body style and playing style of the player who commissioned it. His ability to build in both the Bourgeois tradition, projecting, powerful, responsive to aggressive playing, and the Olson tradition, lighter, more nuanced, tuned for fingerstyle and intimate playing, gives him a flexibility that very few independent builders can match. He doesn't build a guitar and then find players to fit it. He builds for the player in front of him, every time.

The Models

SJ — Drew's small jumbo model, directly inspired by the Olson SJ made famous by James Taylor, and the instrument most closely associated with his building identity. Available with Western Red Cedar or Adirondack spruce tops over Indian rosewood back and sides, with the option of a Venetian cutaway for full upper register access.

OM — A balanced, versatile Orchestra Model with immediate response and the string-to-string clarity that makes it the natural choice for fingerstyle players and singer-songwriters.

OM-Hybrid — Drew's own take on the OM format, with modified body dimensions that push the tonal balance toward a slightly warmer, fuller response while retaining the articulation and comfort of the standard OM.

Dreadnought — A projection-forward instrument for flatpickers and strummers who need power, presence, and the kind of bass response that fills a room without amplification.

Parlor — The most intimate model in the lineup, with a compact body, short scale, and the focused, warm midrange response that makes parlor guitars such compelling fingerstyle and blues instruments.

Quietly Becoming One of the Best

Robin Weber of The Guitar Gallery said it early: keep your eyes on this man and his guitars. The dealers who carry Drew's work, including Dream Guitars, Guitar Gallery Nashville, and Mighty Fine Guitars in San Francisco, arrived at the same conclusion independently. With serial numbers still in the double digits and a current wait of approximately eighteen months, getting on Drew's build list now is the kind of decision that players look back on as one of the best they ever made.

Browse our available Heinonen inventory, and reach out to discuss a custom commission directly.