00:00My father was an amateur woodworker.
00:24He had a shop when I was growing up in the basement.
00:27It was always a place of great mystery and wonder to me.
00:30You'd go down there and there were all these tools, there was danger, and you could make
00:37things.
00:38I thought that was just amazing.
00:42So I had that in my early childhood.
00:45I mean, from the very get-go, I thought about building things as just something that you
00:52do.
00:53My dad taught me a lot of the basic early stuff, so I've had a lifetime's exposure
01:02to fabricating with wood thanks to him.
01:14When I'm finishing a guitar, I want it to be as close to perfect as I can possibly get
01:18it.
01:19I mean, I want to be able to read text in it.
01:21I want to look down and see that I need to shave when I'm looking into the pooled reflection.
01:25Ah, they're just so beautiful when they're freshly polished and the wood is underneath
01:31there.
01:32They really do.
01:33They remind me of a mountain stream.
01:36The main advantage that one of my guitars would have over a factory-made guitar is the
01:45lightness of the build.
01:47I build my guitars fairly lightly, quite lightly actually, and frankly, factories can't
01:54afford to do it.
01:56I mean, there's no room for error.
02:02Well, music has always been part of my life.
02:05I started playing the violin when I was six years old.
02:08I played violin as a classical player until I went to college, and then I went to Berklee
02:15College of Music where I started studying jazz.
02:21I've always loved guitars more than violins, even though I'm a much more accomplished violinist
02:26than I am a guitarist.
02:34But I hardly play the violin anymore.
02:36I love guitars.
02:37I love the completeness of the instrument.
02:39It's a whole orchestra you sit, you hold in your lap.
02:46I didn't build a guitar until I was 40 years old.
02:50When I did, the angels sang.
02:54I was able to bring these two things together that I love so much, music and fabrication.
02:59It takes me between 80 and 100 hours to make a guitar, depending on the level of the complexity
03:05of the cosmetic.
03:10I think you have to have a sentimental relationship with your instrument.
03:14You have to be emotionally invested in it.
03:20I want an instrument to sound good.
03:22I want it to smell good.
03:23I want it to feel good, and I want it to look good.
03:26These are all critical.
03:28I've sold guitars to excellent musicians and amateurs alike.
03:33As long as someone gets it, and they sit down, and they play, and they feel the guitar,
03:37and they make a connection to it, my job is done.
03:45This is the moment I've been waiting for.
03:47I've just strung up this guitar.
03:48This is called Old Paint, and it's called Old Paint because this wood reminded me of
03:52an old paint horse, sort of the beautiful brown and tans.
03:56This is Myrtle.
03:57It has sort of a western theme, a bunch of fingerprints on here.
04:01Western theme with the rope, purfling, and the stars, I've got stars, nice white tuning
04:09pins.
04:10I don't know.
04:11This is it.
04:12This is what you wait for, you know?
04:14And I love the voice.
04:16It's sweet.
04:19Old Paint.
04:25Old Paint.
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