History

Generations of Craftsmanship

Russell Powell has long been regarded as a meticulous craftsmen. His business Island Housewrights has thrived as a respected member of the historic restoration community of New York for the last 35 years. Throughout those years he trained his son Matthew in woodworking and passed on his attention to detail. Music though, has always been at the core of the Powell family. Russell spent years performing as a pedal steel guitarist as well as playing standard six-string. His sons picked up guitars early on and the whole family has been known to play and sing.

In Russell’s early days he had spent some time doing modest guitar repairs for a small shop on Staten Island and had always dabbled in his spare time tweaking, adjusting, and fixing them. In 2001 Russell connected with the venerated luthier Flip Scipio who invited him to work and learn under him as an assistant. During this time, Russell passed much of this new knowledge down to his younger son Matthew. Flip quickly became a cherished friend of the Powell Family.

A decade later Matthew Powell had graduated from Emerson College in pursuit of a career in music recording. The financial crisis made and already difficult career path excruciating. The grind of recording bad hiphop and sixteen-year-old wanna-be pop stars took its toll quickly. He was looking for other sources of income that would use his skills while still allowing him to work on the projects he enjoyed and benefitted from. At this point Flip generously offered to take the younger Powell under his wing as he had Russell years earlier. Many repairs, fret dressings, setups, and cups of tea later Matthew went out on his own and founded Powell Guitars out of the shop he and his father built during the previous years.

Today the father and son team work together, continuing to share knowledge and watch each other’s backs. They have expanded from repairs, to complete restorations, and finally to constructing instruments of their own designs and style.