I began my Luthier career in the early ‘90s while in college in my hometown of Denver Co. My acoustic guitar needed some work and I turned to the Yellow Pages. A shop nearby that I visited was to change my life forever. The Guitar Clinic owned and run by Keven Soll was in an old house in the industrial area that had been converted for business. More interested in all the tools on the wall than what my guitar needed, I inquired about working for free to learn the trade. A true apprenticeship situation.
I worked evenings and weekends and throughout the next summer. School registration came and went, I had become a full time Guitar Repairman. My mentor had graduated from the Red Wing School of Lutherie in MN where he had built two guitars instead of the required one. A flat top acoustic and a flat top acoustic bass that would end up featured in Acoustic Guitar Magazine. The learning curve was steep back then before the internet. A few books existed which I studied and tried to absorb as much as possible from my mentor and future best friend Keven.
Around 5 years later in ‘97 I decided to move to San Diego. Thinking it might be hard to break into the repair scene in CA I thought I could work as a cabinet maker or in the custom furniture field. I told the first cabinet maker about my Luthery history and he wondered why I hadn’t applied at Taylor Guitars. I had no idea the company was located in El Cajon about 15 miles east of San Diego. I quickly landed a position in the Final Assembly department completing the required 4 guitars per day. This was setting 4 neck angles and gluing up the neck and bridge, then fretting, fitting nut and saddle and stringing up 4 to perfection. There were 115 employees when I started, making about 60 guitars per day. When I left 24 years later we had nearly 1800 employees building 550-750 guitars per day. After 3 years in Final Assembly I was graciously invited to the coveted Repair Dept where I would hone my skills for another 19 years. The remaining few years were in Product Development working with Andy Powers, learning machinist skills and doing some CNC programming.
My wife and I wanted a better place to call home and raise our kids. We chose the New Braunfels area of TX and absolutely love it here. The music scene is not too shabby as well! Several historic music venues are nearby including the famous Gruene Hall, and Austin is less than an hour away. I hope to humbly accept the opportunity to work on your favorite guitars.