My Story

 I grew up in Memphis. My hands have always been busy making music, building and restoring homes. I made my way to Portland in 2006. After completing the interior restoration of my new home, I wondered what I could do with all of the tools and machines I had accumulated in the basement shop. ​

A good friend, past bandmate and the finest woodworker I know, Jason Brooks (Minor Lee Woodworks) planted the seed of working in production. With limited space in the basement, it made sense to shoot for something small. Mandolins came to mind. I had always wondered what it took to make such small instruments keep up with the volume of my archtop banjo. Jason supplied me with a slab of maple for the first test instrument. A trip to visit Bruce Harvie of Orcas Island Tonewoods would supply me with material and some critical knowledge for the next ten instruments. 

At that time, I owned a nice Crafters of Tennessee A5 mandolin. I had been eyeing some F5's, but with the banjo as my primary instrument, I couldn't justify that purchase. It made sense to me to start with the F5. Baptism by fire & why not? 
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After spending most of a year reading, swapping out tools and making jigs and fixtures, I started the process. I'm very pleased with what has happened, so far! Much more to come!

I'm now alternating between F5's and A5's with each batch. After 26 F5's I decided to take it a little easy on myself. I'm still doing 5 F5's per batch and I'm feeling good about my change to 8 A5's per batch. I'll probably keep that going for a while. 

My list will open and close through time so I don't get too far ahead of myself. I've chipped away at it a bit, and I'm opening it back up now.