Snowboards and Guitars: Circle Strings x Burton at NAMM 2026 Some collaborations make you stop and ask how nobody thought of this before.
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.
__________________________
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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▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full
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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
When Snowboards Meet Guitars: The Art of Cross-Industry Collaboration | A Music Evolves Conversation with Adam Buchwald and William Hylton of Circle Strings
[00:00:00]
Sean Martin: We're ready. We're rolling. Alright, so we're at NAMM 2026.
Yeah. We are Media day kickoff and I was surprised by this collaboration. It's a very interesting collaboration. So tell me about who you are and what's going on here.
Adam Buchwald: My name's Adam Buchwald. We're from Burlington, Vermont, and I own a company called Circle Strings, and we decided to collaborate on a project with Burton this year where we're making matching snowboards and guitars.
And I'm a big snowboarder. My chief CNC wizard slash designer is a huge snowboarder. So when they agreed to this, we were both in heaven and we immediately got to work and put our heads together on what we wanted to show and design. And Will came up with these beautiful iterations of what we do and focusing on first the woods.
The Wood: Figured Mahogany from Vermont
[00:01:00]
Yeah, the main piece of the puzzle here is figured mahogany, and we own a wood company in Vermont, and I had a whole tree of this wood, so I knew that I wanted to use this for a special project for something like this. So I told Will to make sure that's the main focus. And then we got the board shape, and then he came up with a lot of great ideas that I'll let him explain because it'll be better from him and because he knows the little intricacies that I know.
Sean Martin: Sure. I'll let you hold this. Maybe kind of walk us through.
Design Process: Alakazam Board Shape
[00:02:00]
William Hylton: Yeah, sure. So initially we were like, all right, what board shape do we actually want to do? And I wanted to use a powder board, because I'm generally a backcountry rider. And generally powder boards have this very unique tail shape. So I kind of went through the different models that Burton has and I chose this shape, which is called the Alakazam shape.
And I really like this curve to it because it's very guitar-esque. So with that, I took this shape and I put it in features throughout the guitars. Like you can see here on the extension of the fingerboard, right here on the pick guard, the bridge shape, the tips of the wings of the bridge there.
So that was one thing. It's like I could actually use some of the aesthetic from the board on the design. Another thing that's really cool about Burton boards is the core of the snowboard is actually wood. So I was like, all right, well that'd be really sweet to show that and showcase that.
Unique Features: Core Material & Inlays
[00:03:00]
So I had this idea of the sound hole being on the snowboard, and we have it obviously on the acoustic. And then we kind of feature it here. And this inlay is also made out of the core material. So it kind of ties everything together.
With the electric as well, where you see the featured inlay. Now what's really cool about this is the core, the body of this guitar is actually made out of the core material as well. So what's really nice about that is it's actually pretty sweet, light, durable wood. Yeah, feel free to hold that. So it actually makes a pretty nice guitar body.
Sean Martin: Feels great.
William Hylton: Yeah. So there's a couple things that are holding everything together and making them copacetic.
[00:04:00]
And the back also has a Burton logo inlay that you see on the tail of the snowboard. And then both guitars also feature this snowflake inlay, which is inspired by an old photography project by this guy named Snowflake Bentley, who's the first guy to capture snowflakes in their true form on photography.
Sean Martin: Wow. Yeah, it feels really good.
William Hylton: Yeah. Right. It's like a perfect weight. It's a pretty nice guitar.
Sean Martin: Thank you. And your name again?
William Hylton: William. Yep.
Sean Martin: We'll have to come up and visit you in Vermont and get on some snow with you.
William Hylton: Yeah, absolutely. Come in the winter and we'll hit the slopes.
Sean Martin: Right on. Thank you.
William Hylton: Great. Thank you so much.
Burton's Reaction & Musical Connection
Sean Martin: And the Burton team, what are their thoughts on this?
William Hylton: Oh, they're very, they're insanely stoked on it. Yeah.
[00:05:00]
Sean Martin: We cover a lot of different industries and almost all the time there are musicians everywhere. Right? Doing all kinds of things. Are there all musicians in Burton?
William Hylton: Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of fans of what we do and some of the artists that we build guitars for. So that kind of brought it all together too.
Sean Martin: Nice one.
William Hylton: Yeah.
Sean Martin: Appreciate it, Will. Thanks a million, man.
William Hylton: Yeah, thank you so much. Good job. Beautiful stuff. Thanks.
Sean Martin: Thank you.
William Hylton: Yeah, absolutely.
At NAMM Media Day 2026, Sean Martin discovered an unexpected collaboration between Circle Strings, a Vermont-based guitar company, and Burton snowboards. Adam Buchwald, owner of Circle Strings, and designer William Hylton revealed matching snowboards and guitars built from shared materials and design philosophy.
The collaboration centers on figured mahogany from Buchwald's wood company in Vermont and the actual core material from Burton snowboards—which is wood. Hylton chose Burton's Alakazam powder board shape as inspiration, incorporating its distinctive tail curve into the guitar's fingerboard extension, pickguard, and bridge.
The sound hole design on the acoustic model mirrors the snowboard, while inlays are crafted from Burton's core material. Both guitars feature snowflake inlays inspired by Snowflake Bentley, the Vermont photographer who first captured snowflakes in their true crystalline form.
The electric guitar body is built entirely from snowboard core material—lightweight, durable, and resonant. Burton's team is reportedly thrilled with the collaboration, with many employees being musicians and fans of Circle Strings' artist builds. The project represents a natural fusion of two Vermont-rooted crafts built on wood, precision, and creative expression.
Adam Buchwald:
"I had a whole tree of this wood, so I knew that I wanted to use this for a special project for something like this."
"We decided to collaborate on a project with Burton where we're making matching snowboards and guitars."
William Hylton:
"The body of this guitar is actually made out of the core material as well—it's pretty sweet, light, durable wood."
"I really like this curve to it, because it's very guitar-esque."