Guitar building has been a winding road for me. I still vividly remember when I first became aware that individuals, and not just big factories, made guitars. I was on a flight and started looking at the inflight magazine. I ran across an article about vintage guitars. There were some great photos and this is where I first read about John D'Angelico. (He was an archtop builder in NYC from the early 1930s-1964.) His guitars were beautiful! I loved the lines and colors of his guitars. I couldn't believe that only one person had made such instruments.

I was eager and excited to pursue any avenue I could find into guitar making.  I researched guitar making and found a luthier with a shop close to me.  I stopped by thinking I might be able to apprentice with him.  He quickly and kindly told me no, gave me a Stewart MacDonald catalogue and sent me on my way.  I poured over the catalogue, not believing all the tools and supplies they offered.  I ordered a guitar making book and started there.  The process seemed intimidating but I wanted to give it a try.  Through much trial and error, a partially built Dreadnought, membership into the Guild of American Luthiery, I found the Maine Guitarmakers School.  It sounded like a great place to learn what I wanted, which was building under the guidance of an experienced instructor.   

So in the late summer of 1993, I began my luthier training on the coast of Maine in Rockport Harbor.  It was there that I first experienced working in a guitar workshop and the sights, smells and sounds of what it was like to build my first complete guitar.   I built my first guitar, a 12 string out of cedar and oak.  I was so proud of that instrument.  My instructor Nick Apollonio, had some unorthodox design elements, but he knew how to make a good sounding guitar.  I learned a lot and thought that when I left Maine I was a luthier.  I had built a guitar and a half of another after all.

I have had shops in Atlanta and Asheville, NC in the 90s.  I started working at Maple Street Guitars in 2001 and have been associated with them since then.  I started doing a lot of repair work there and learned a tremendous amount about acoustics, electrics, classicals and other fretted stringed instruments.  I can not stress enough how being in a guitar shop with all sorts of instruments has exposed me and deepened my understanding how guitars are designed and put together. 

-Jeff Henry