A GUITAR maker from Pendle has been signed up by a Californian company which makes instruments used by stars such as Shania Twain and Barry Manilow.

Adam Robinson, 40, of Dotcliffe Road, Kelbrook, has his own business handcrafting guitars in a workshop in his back garden.

Each guitar - costing between £2,000 and £6,500 - is made to the client's exact specification and it usually takes up to six weeks to complete from first receiving a block of wood.

And now word of his talent has spread across the Atlantic after he was approached by Buzz Feiten, a company based in Santa Monica, California.

Adam has now signed up to be an authorisied fitter of the Buzz Feiten guitar tuning device, which are used by both country star Shania Twain and legendary crooner Barry Manilow's bands.

He is one of a handful of fitters in the UK.

The device is sold across the world and helps keep the guitar in tune all the way up the fret board. Normal guitars typical lose a touch of their tuning on the highest notes.

Adam said: "It was a challenge to meet the company's high qualifying standards but it enhances the service that I am able to offer serious musicians in the area.

"Everyone in the music world is talking about how it improves performance - as it elimates the need for the guitarist to have to make tuning alterations when playing in different keys."

Mr Robinson, who has been involved in the music scene since he was teenager, left a career in city finance several years ago to retrain for a career in guitar making.

He works mainly with mahogany but also with more exotic woods such as spruce, cedar and ebony.

He said: "I always wanted to do something more creative with my life and follow my musical interest by making guitars."

He also has a busy guitar repair workshop.

Mr Robinson said that occasionally he gets wacky requests, the oddest being to make what his client described as an "alpine cello".

He said: "The guy had been on holiday in the French Alps and had been impressed by watching a local band playing a ski!

"They had attached a single string to the ski and used it in their act. I was happy to have a go and he seemed pleased with the results."