In 1967 I needed money so I sold the Gibson. In ’69 I bought a Martin D-18 in a Fayetteville NC pawn shop. After I got out of the Army I went back to law school and sold the Martin in ’71. Guitars I wish I still had. Living in Seattle in 1998, I saw an ad for a 1970 Martin D-28, one of the first Indian rosewood D-28s. Nice guitar. Not a great guitar, but I still have it.

In 2018 while taking a folk music class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC I met Ken Miller, a retired master luthier. Ken doesn’t build anymore due to allergies, but I cajoled him into teaching me to build acoustic guitars. He became a mentor and a friend. Ken taught me the philosophy that’s on this website’s first page. The goal isn’t to build perfect guitars. The goal is to build great guitars.  That’s why I want my guitars to be a joy to play, sound great, and look pretty, in that order.

I generally build one guitar at a time.  I’ve built Type 0 parlor guitars, a couple of Nick Lucas 00’s and a few dreadnoughts.  The NL 00 is an interesting guitar. The body size and shape are classic 00 but the sound box depth is the same as a dreadnought. Given how thin Ken taught me to build the face and back, the 00 projects almost as much as a production dreadnought.

There’s a Gallery link below to the wood I either have on hand or am selling for Ken Miller. All of these sets are available to build you a custom guitar if you’re interested.