VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — “I fell in love with wood,” said Brian Hawkins as he laughed. “That sounds crazy, but I did.”

For nearly three decades, Hawkins has been carving out chords in his small Virginia Beach workshop, handcrafting guitars with unique backstories.

On the workbench in front of him lay pieces of 100-year old mahogany from furniture a family member had back in the 1920s, soon to be a guitar for his daughter’s 21st birthday — in the back of the shop, large chunks of black walnut from a man’s family tree that once stood tall at his grandfather’s home.

“It’s a beautiful opportunity to take something that’s doing nothing and turn it into some beautiful music,” Hawkins said.

He’ll be the first to tell you, a challenge of a luthier is connecting the mystical, musical side of the instrument to the mechanical realm. But after years of finding that connection, he began to realize that there is a true art to his “hobby.” 

He knows creating music on a guitar is, of course, a form of art, but so is creating the guitar itself.

Now, not only does he pour this passion into the fine details of these handcrafted guitars, but he also pours his passion into teaching these techniques to others. The shop was full of guitarists building their own instruments, with Hawkins guiding them along. Many of those guitarists claimed they never knew this was even a possibility.

“This is a spiritual experience for them,” Hawkins said. “I want it to be an exchange in their life like it’s been for me, and really know you’re going to have something to challenge you, and challenge your mind, and challenge you and how you even see yourself.”

In this small Hawkins Guitar workshop, not only are guitars being built, but first chapters to stories are also being written. Because if you ask any guitarist, there’s always a story between the notes.

“There are guitars out there, for sure, they have songs in them,” said Anthony Rosano, a Hampton Roads musician and frontman of Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos. “Like you pick up this guitar and it has a song in it.”

Between the blues licks and rip-roaring power chords, Rosano was happy to share the stories behind the guitars that lined the walls of his garage studio — like the classic telecaster that he wrote his band’s first two records on that he got as a joke because “it’d make him sound like Brad Paisley,” or the other telecaster that was made by a friend. 

“It’s got a huge baseball bat for a neck like the old tellies,” Rosano said.

Or the actual piece of 2×4 that he scrounged up from the hardware store.

“I had a Home Depot gift card,” Rosano said, laughing. “It’s just wood and wire, that’s all any guitar is anyway.”

Sure, wood and wire, but wood and wire that can hold meaning and influence. Many may just see an instrument, but others hear the stories hidden behind the blank canvas.

“Art does influence art, even if it’s subliminally,” Rosano said. “Certain guitars encourage you to play a certain way.”