Canton man hits all the right notes by building, repairing musical instruments

CANTON, New York (WWNY) - A Canton man is making sure customers are getting the musical instruments they need by building them himself.

Sean Cunningham enjoyed working with musical instruments at a young age.

“I started off with an electric guitar that wasn’t awesome. It was okay and kind of developed it and went with that Eddie Van Halen approach of it doesn’t work with the way I want it, so I’ll put things around and make them different for me,” he said.

Now, the Canton native owns and operates Windward Music on Main Street where he repairs, builds, and sells instruments.

When it comes to making his own instruments, Cunningham builds basses and guitars from Adirondack materials.

“If you’re talking acoustics, Adirondack spruce is one of the best top woods for an acoustic guitar,” he said.

Sometimes, building a guitar can take weeks, even months. A recent project for Cunningham is repairing basses for Canton Central School.

“I do everything from simple setting up new strings with bridges to if you need the fingerboard removed, replaced, cleaned down, we do that,” he said.

Cunningham says he wants to make sure he pairs the right instrument with the right customer.

“This isn’t a ploy to get rich and buy a yacht. It’s a chance to give a little back, do something I love and just enjoy my life,” he said.

From making his own guitars to selling the right-sounding guitar, Cunningham wants to hit the right notes for the Canton music community.

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