I was born in Montana in a farming and ranching family - my Dad went off to WWII as a pilot. He didn't care for the military, but they had really cool airplanes, so he was a fighter pilot thru Korea and Vietnam, where he was shot down. Fighter pilots move around a lot -- so my first musical influences were Ray Charles & Gospel music in Georgia 1954. Then England & Germany in the late '50's & early '60's -- listening to English blues & The Beatles on Radio Luxembourg.
I built guitars as a hobby when I was a Fine Arts student in the late '60's thru '75 when disco hit and live music almost died. I began making knives and because of a martial arts background ended up making my own steel in the Japanese tradition & even shared a shop with a Japanese knife/sword maker named Kuzan Oda.
In the early '90's the collectors were ruining knife making for people interested in functional designs, so I got back into guitar building full time.
I've built around 300 guitars, focusing mainly on sound & playability. These are traits that can't be done by machines & mass production.
Keeping guitars visually simple (finish & inlay) also keeps the cost down which even well known players can appreciate.
Most of the wood I use I've salvaged myself in Central America -- Rosewood, Granadilla Rosewood Burl, Bastard Rosewood, Hubrillo and the Mahogany -- in Belize, which started the world's thirst for mahogany when it was British Honduras 200 years ago.
406-285-6556
Links
Deamguitars.com
