John Flute

John is a guitar theorist and experimental luthier at TU Dublin Conservatoire, where he splits his time between the acoustics lab and arguing with a CNC machine. His research sits at the improbable intersection of music performance, materials science, and stubbornness — exploring how piezoelectric transducers, adaptive bridge mechanisms, and a healthy disregard for conventional tuning pegs might one day produce a guitar that stays in tune longer than its player stays in practice. A long-standing collaboration with Howlin' Wolf Guitars in Wicklow has kept him grounded in the real-world constraints of instrument making, namely that luthiers do not appreciate being told their craft can be improved by a sensor. When not chasing microtonal drift across fretboards, John teaches acoustics to students who mostly just want to know why their amp buzzes, and occasionally performs with the TU Dublin Faculty Ensemble — where he is contractually forbidden from retuning other people's instruments mid-set.