I grew up in a small town in Ohio before settling in Cleveland, a city I have come to love for its culture and vibrant music scene. I have always been drawn to fixing things, especially older items that just need extra care, and that is how I discovered my passion for guitars.
They occupy this perfect space between art and functionality, and even though I am not much of a musician myself, there is something special about bringing them back to life or building them from scratch. Before guitars, my academic path was all over the place. I studied physics, pre-law, chemistry, history, and communications before finally earning a degree in IT. After that, I worked in various areas of tech, from support and software testing to physical infrastructure.
When the homebuilding software company I was at laid off a bunch of us, including me, I decided to follow the spark I had found in repairing guitars. It all started when I fixed a cracked neck on an Ibanez that belonged to my brother-in-law, which he had inherited from his father. I was nervous, but seeing how much the successful repair meant to him was the push I needed.
In July 2024, I enrolled in Galloup Guitars’ two-month Journeyman program. By the end of the first week, I knew two months would not be enough, so I stayed for the full six-month Master’s Program, finishing in December 2024. Building guitars for nine hours a day felt less like work and more like a dream. I made plenty of mistakes, but my instructors were amazing, and I learned more than I can ever fully sum up.
One of the most impactful choices I made during my time there was opting into an additional lesson with Will Bezard on using Rhino and CNC routers in guitar making. As a luthier, creativity is only half the job—the other half is mastering the tools that help bring your ideas to life. Will’s lesson bridged that gap for me. We created a sample fretboard, but the real value was in how he took the bits of knowledge I already had and wove them into a clear, cohesive understanding of how to move from a digital model to a physical result.
What made the experience especially valuable was how tailored it was—Will focused on what I wanted to learn and built from there. It left me feeling empowered rather than limited, like I had added a vital piece to my luthier’s toolkit. Not knowing how to use tools like Rhino or a CNC router can feel like quite a handicap; this lesson removed that barrier. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to leave Galloup with the most complete and modern skill set possible.
After Galloup, my goal was clear: open my own shop here in Cleveland. I really love this city, and I want to be part of its music scene in my own way. It was not easy. I had to find a workspace, gather a mind-boggling number of tools, figure out my own designs and methods, and let people know I even existed. It was both exciting and terrifying.
Now, I am renting space at a makerspace called Soulcraft, where I am the only luthier, but I get to learn from woodworkers of all kinds, and that is invaluable. My biggest aspiration is to contribute something meaningful to music. I love the idea of guitars as tools—tangible, real-world objects that fit into players’ lives at every skill level. Boutique guitars are not for everyone, and that is okay. I want to be accessible and useful to every musician, because everyone has a story, and I am honored to be part of that. Whether I am fixing up a budget-friendly starter guitar or crafting a custom instrument for a seasoned professional, I feel like I am part of something bigger, something alive.
I have worked in many fields, but nothing has ever made me feel like this. One day, I hope people will know me for my work, and I want to give back to the luthier community the same way so many have helped me. I want to keep learning, keep moving toward that impossible goal of perfecting my craft, and share what I discover. Sure, I wish I had started before I was 34, but all my earlier experiences led me here, and I would not trade that perspective for anything. For now, I am just a guy in Cleveland doing what he loves, and if anyone ever needs a hand or wants to talk guitars, I am here.