When Jay Hargreaves slowly opens the garage door to his mother-in-law's Three Tree Point home, he explains, "This is really the heart of it."

The tools are all there - a giant sanding block, two band saws, a jointer, a drill press, sanding machines, work benches, and a pin router.

Hargreaves, of Des Moines, designs and builds exquisite guitars. From basses to classical guitars, to nylon and steel-string, his masterpieces are unique, rare and expensive.

Some cost around $10,000 and are shipped throughout the world. He will gladly spend two to two and a half years building an exclusive, perfect instrument.

Many people recognize his guitars from Acoustic Guitar Magazine.

In the music world, he is recognized as a master of his craft.

If you have seen the 10-foot guitar that graces the wall of West Seattle's Luna Park Caf/, you marveled at Hargreaves' work. He designed the layout for the world's largest guitar, taking measurements and enlarging them. In constructing it, he remembers everything being triple-sized.

The gigantic guitar has been plugged in while one person plucked it and another fretted the notes.

A graduate of Tyee High School in SeaTac, Hargreaves first played the cello at Chinook Middle School. He received his first guitar in the mid to late 1960s.

Later, Hargreaves decided he wanted a Univox bass guitar, so he decided to make one. He was able to produce drawings because he took two and a half years of architectural drawing in high school.

His father once snuck him into Boeing on a Saturday to use some of the big machines-- big disk sanders that were three feet across.

About 1971, Hargreave's father brought home an article about Dr. Michael Kasha. His father told him if he wanted to make guitars, he had to do it like this guy. While Kasha earned Doctoral degrees in three disciplines, he became focused on improving upon the classical guitar.

Hargreaves reached the point where he was building a new bass for himself every couple of years, and each new bass was a little better than the last.

It was at a 1986 Guild of American Luthiers convention in Tacoma, that Hargreaves first saw Richard Schneider, director of the Kasha Design Seminar in Sequim. He later became Schneider's apprentice and assistant for ten years.

It was during a seminar in 1991 that Hargreaves and Kasha met. Kasha looked at Hargreaves' drawings, which they discussed and modified. Hargreaves designed and built the first Kasha acoustic bass guitar with Kasha and Schneider in 1995.

In January 1997, at the time of Schneider's death, there were three unfinished guitars for which people had paid money.

Hargreaves agreed to finish them, because he knew Schneider's building methods, and there were only one or two other people who could finish the guitars in a way that would reflect Schneider's work. Hargreaves believes it is important to continue the vision of the original builder.

He lives and breathes guitars, explaining, "I'm building guitars even when I don't have orders. I do it because I like working with my hands.

"The design I use is unconventional. I'm way out there as far as what I make. I don't make old-time guitars- they're real modern."

Hargreaves contemplates each guitar down to the last detail. The ideas and designs are endless. Particularly eye catching is an oriental blue guitar.

Hargreaves is praised for the precision fit rotating access door located on the bottom of the guitar. There is also a locking plate on the guitar. This makes the guitar easier to repair, and string can literally be put through the instrument. The grain matches perfect. He also creates fiberglass guitar cases, which is really rare.

Designing and building is much more important to Hargreaves, than repairing. He admits he will do a fret job for a friend's shop every now and then.

Constantly inventing and re-inventing in his mind, Hargreaves describes his guitars as "a piece of art. "It's sculpture. I spend hours getting the pieces right."

Hargreaves spends 20 hours or more a week creating guitars and is currently building a guitar to be sent to the east coast. In addition, he attends various guitar and music conventions.

He also keeps busy as a journalist, writing articles for various guitar and music publications, and American Luthier.

There is no doubt Hargreave's guitars make beautiful music.

He will tell you they are uncommon by emphasizing, "They are not guitars that are off the shelf. They do not sound like anyone else's instrument."

"The best thing is it's really cool to sit in a concert hall at the back of the room and listen to someone play a guitar you made. That's very rewarding," Hargreaves observed.

For more information, go to www.jthbass.com. The Web site displays a variety of information and pictures. Hargreaves can also be contacted at P.O. Box 13301, Des Moines, WA 98198-1005.