For some, music is merely a hobby, but for Lafontaine resident Andre Forget, it has become a part of his soul, a passion, and a way of life.

Forget, who works part-time as a woodworking teacher at Le Caron in Penetanguishene, has become well-known among those in the local music community as one of the best luthiers – a maker of stringed instruments (in this case, handmade guitars) – in the region.

Having been a carpenter for more than 20 years, Forget, who graduated college with an art and design background, started out designing furniture, but his love for music, and his desire to help create it, took over.

“I needed more of a challenge, and since I played the guitar, I thought I would try to get into that,” he says while working on one of his latest masterpieces, a handmade acoustic guitar of his own design.

“I got the idea from a Popular Mechanics (magazine), and I studied (how to do it) for years.”

Lined with homemade jigs, tools of the trade, and what, to the untrained eye, would appear to be just pieces of wood, his workshop creations are pieces of art. You can sense immediately that this is a place where musical magic is being created.

Since his first “experiment” nearly 20 years ago, to today, more than 25 guitars later, Forget has worked hard to hone his craft, constantly in search for perfection.

“My first guitar sounded pretty good, but they have definitely evolved a lot since then,” he says, adding he loves the idea of being able to play with the type of sound he can create from the sound box. Striving for perfection in both beauty and sound is what keeps him going, he says. In fact, Forget says he’s at the point now when each guitar has to be perfect or it just doesn’t meet his standards.

“People can look at my guitars, and it could be one that I am not happy with, but no one could tell except for me.”

It’s not just the amazing sound that comes out of his guitars that is music to many a musician’s ear, but also the beauty of the instruments he creates. Created from his own designs, Forget’s guitars range in price from $1,000 to $3,000 and are made mostly from local trees that would otherwise be discarded.

“Most of the time (the wood) is about to be trucked to the dump. It’s gone through hell and no one else wants it,” he says, noting often, the bigger the tree and the more damaged it is, the better his final product will be. “In maples, the larger the tree is, the more interesting the pattern is, and wherever there was an object in the tree, the more interesting the pattern will be around it.”

It is this process, the transformation from a piece of scrap wood to the final product, that Forget enjoys the most. “People can’t believe that it started from a tree and I got a guitar.”

A musician in his own right, Forget has written more than 100 French songs.

“There’s no way you could build an instrument like this if you can’t play it. It just wouldn’t have the same feeling.”

Born and raised in Lafontaine as one of a dozen children in a very close-knit family, Forget was raised with strong values and the belief that idle hands are merely a waste of energy.

“My dad didn’t believe in doing anything unless it was productive, and I am a lot like my dad which is something I like and I don’t,” he jokes. “When I look at what I do, it seems like all I do is work, but building guitars, for me, is not work.”

It is however the challenge that makes him happy.

“All I want to do is satisfy myself.  I just need the challenge (which) for me is to make something that is perfect.”

Despite his overwhelming talent, Forget is most happy when watching someone play one of his guitars or sing one of his songs.

“That gives me shivers from head to toe. It’s just incredible. My daughter has a beautiful voice and, when she and a friend were singing (one of my songs) at a variety show at her school, I had trouble playing the guitar … it just makes me so proud.”

Forget is a self-described “simple guy,"

“It doesn’t take anyone special to do work like this, but you do have to have a passion for it,” he says, adding his ultimate goal is to join the ranks of some of the best guitar makers in the world, including William Laskin – the man who has inspired Forget. “I don’t know if I will ever reach that, but Canada does have some of the best in the world.”

Forget will be one of more than a dozen artists taking part in the Twisted Pines and Quest Art School & Gallery Gallery and Studio Tour taking place May 9 to 19.

Visit www.twistedpines.com for more information.