My Story
From high school thru college and into adulthood I played the guitar never really taking lessons or mastering it very well. About 20 years ago I had an unfortunate accident and broke my left wrist. For many years I was unable to get my left hand in a comfortable position to play the guitar again and for that period of time I didn’t play anything. In 1998, with my coming retirement I mused about whether I could play the mandolin ( smaller and with a shorter and narrower neck). I always loved the sound of the mandolin and its versatility in playing many genres of music.
I started looking at mandolins and thought they were too expensive to try on a whim. Having been a woodworker all my life,I started reading books on mandolin making and watching endless you tube videos. I decided to attempt to make one and went ahead and purchased the wood from Old Standard Wood in Fulton Missouri. They were helpful and turns out extremely knowledgeable and well respected in the instrument industry.
My first mandolin was respectable and played well.
I always loved the sound of the mandolin and its versatility in playing many genres of music.
At that point I decided I would make one for each of my four grandchildren and each could have one as remembrance of me or to play now if they so desired.
That was the beginning. I started taking lessons and was hooked, both in learning to play the instrument and building them.
I am now on my fifteenth instrument and each one is different with both A style and F styles. Colors, bindings, actions, and finishes keep improving. But with fifteen instruments it is time to part with some of them.
The mandolins are both A and F styles. The tops are spruce and the sides, necks, and backs are figured maple. The fingerboards are either ebony or rosewood as are the peghead overlays and bridges.