Snowboards and Guitars: Circle Strings x Burton at NAMM 2026

Some collaborations make you stop and ask how nobody thought of this before.

At NAMM Media Day 2026, Sean Martin caught up with Adam Buchwald and William Hylton from Circle Strings, a Vermont-based guitar company, to talk about their partnership with Burton. The concept is deceptively simple: matching snowboards and custom guitars built from the same materials.

But the execution is anything but simple.

Buchwald owns a wood company in Vermont. He had an entire tree of figured mahogany set aside, waiting for the right project. When Burton agreed to collaborate, he knew exactly what to do with it. The wood became the centerpiece—the visual and sonic foundation of everything that followed.

Then William Hylton got to work.

Hylton, Circle Strings' designer and CNC specialist, is a backcountry snowboarder. He chose Burton's Alakazam powder board shape as his starting point, drawn to its distinctive tail curve. That curve, he realized, was already guitar-esque. So he wove it through the entire instrument—the fingerboard extension, the pickguard, the bridge tips. The snowboard's DNA lives in every contour.

But here's where it gets interesting.

The core of a Burton snowboard is wood. Lightweight, durable, designed for performance. Hylton took that same core material and built a guitar body from it. The result feels right in your hands—balanced, resonant, purposeful. It's not a gimmick. It's a genuine instrument built from materials engineered to perform.

The acoustic model features a sound hole that mirrors the snowboard's design. Inlays are crafted from Burton's core material, tying everything together visually and conceptually. Both guitars showcase snowflake inlays inspired by Snowflake Bentley, the Vermont photographer who first captured snowflakes in their true crystalline form over a century ago.

It's a detail that says everything about how Circle Strings approaches their work. History. Craft. Place.

Vermont runs through this collaboration. Buchwald and Hylton are snowboarders. They source their wood locally. They build instruments that reflect where they come from. Burton, also rooted in Vermont's snow culture, was a natural partner.

The Burton team, according to Hylton, is thrilled. Many of them are musicians. Some are fans of the artists Circle Strings builds for. The connection was already there—this project just made it tangible.

What strikes me about this collaboration is the underlying philosophy. Snowboards and guitars aren't that different when you strip them down. Both are built from wood. Both demand precision. Both exist to help someone express themselves—whether carving powder or carving a melody.

Circle Strings and Burton understand this. They didn't force a partnership. They found the common thread and followed it.

The result is a set of instruments that belong in a museum and on a stage. Objects that tell a story about craft, place, and the people who refuse to separate their passions.

Snowboards and guitars. Same wood. Same craft. Different ride.

Sean Martin reports from NAMM 2026 for ITSPmagazine.

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This is a Brand Highlight. A Brand Highlight is an introductory conversation designed to put a spotlight on the guest and their company. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/creation#highlight

GUESTS

Adam Buchwald and William Hylton

RESOURCES

Learn more about Circle Strings Guitars: https://circlestrings.com

Learn more about Burton Snowboards: https://www.burton.com

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KEYWORDS

NAMM 2026, Burton, Circle Strings, custom guitars, snowboard guitar, handmade guitars, Vermont, guitar collaboration, Burton snowboards, NAMM, luthier, unique guitars

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