Founder

Duties / Responsibilities:

As the founder of Artisan Guitars, I am the guardian of our culture - Where each visitor is treated with respect & their needs well attended, while continually sharing our ever-growing knowledge of the builders we are privileged to represent. Of course a high degree of attention, given to each individual client requires a team of dedicated staff members to provide this level of customer service. Each member of our team brings something special to our culture, each one committed to helping you find the right instrument.

An important part of my daily responsibilities includes keeping our showroom stocked with custom guitars, often commissioned 4 to 6 months in advance. As part of these duties, I personally bring together design specifications and offer final approval on all custom orders placed on behalf of our clients. I spend a great deal of time with clients, either on the phone or communicating via email. During this process I am in contact with each of our builders on a daily basis. We are often discussing choices & availability of tone woods, order scheduling, and exciting custom models designed exclusively for our shop.

In between these daily duties, I am also the writer for our monthly newsletters, where I can share new information about each builder and special instruments as they arrive. I love my job.

Musical Influences / Background:

February 9th, 1964 - I recall being glued to the black & white TV set in our family living room, when the Beatles debuted on the Ed Sullivan Show.  At the ripe age of 10, I was smitten with the enormous excitement that music raised in the soul.  I borrowed (yet never returned) my first 45 RPM vinyl record from my older sister... "I Want To Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There".  Raised on misery, I was hooked on the feeling that music can set you free – and it did!  I got a job at the age of 12, and saved enough to buy my first guitar that same year.  I haven’t stopped working yet, and of course my musical interests continue to grow as well.

Early influences were a melding of R&B, Motown, & traditional Rock... At the same time I was discovering Hendrix, Yes, and David Bowie, I was also listening to the Four Tops, the Temptations, and Stevie Wonder.  There are far too many Rock and R&B bands to mention (Cream, Traffic, the Stones, & Jethro Tull), though at the core of my record collection there were multiple copies of identical LP’s – artists whose music was the most influential – Crosby, Stills, & Nash; Neil Young, Elton John (predominantly due to the lyrics of Bernie Taupin), and most heavily James Taylor.  Several copies of each were often necessary due to extended playing… In order to learn the songs, each would inevitably wear out beyond recognition.  Sheet music transpositions really sucked in those days (still does, for finger-style arrangements).

In 1969 I was fifteen years old.  I missed the big party at Yasgur’s farm, though that same year I was inspired to attend a similar weekend long outdoor rock festival, not so far from home.  I recall hanging out back stage (if you could call the make-shift scaffolding with a tarp over it a “green room” of any sort), meeting Chuck Barry and Alice Cooper.  They were larger than life, but there I was hanging with them.  It was very cool until the local news station broadcast a live film report on Sunday, which my mother saw on TV… I had some explaining to do when I got home!

Then during my teens, it was a popular notion to form a garage band.  Quite a number of garage bands, later, most ended in divorce of one form or another.  But hey, it was a very competitive neighborhood.  I went to high school with Myron Grombacher, who upon graduation became the career drummer for Pat Benatar.  I grew up listening to Joe Walsh & the James Gang when they were a local club band, and often sneaked into bars as a teenager to see Phil Keaggy perform with the Glass Harp.  This level of talent will curb your aspirations quickly!

During college, a duo was easier to manage, so I spent weekends performing covers in local bars with another guitarist & singer - When I wasn’t working part time at the campus library.  We did allot of acoustic material with vocal harmonies.  One evening my “boss” came to hear us, sat through a full three sets.  The next day she asked, “Why don’t you do any of Harry Chapin’s material”?  Avoiding the notion that I had never been quite enough of a fan, I quite frankly explained that I simply didn’t have any of Harry’s records, which is how I learned all my material.  A week later, I received a heavy box in the mail, from Asylum Records.  There enclosed, was an entire set of more than 25 fresh LP’s, along with the accompanying letter:

Needless to say, I learned several of Harry’s chart topping songs, for the next time I saw my boss, Merle Benbal Downing…  Little had I known that this well traveled, scholarly bohemian I called my “boss” had in fact at one time been Harry’s road manager!  She had attested to his fearless generosity in helping others throughout his career, and told me stories of the road about how Harry had little regard for schedules and poor driving skills… The latter took his life not long after I received his gift.

My favorite arranger & lyricist is by far James Taylor.  As his music recorded changes in his life, over the years it has also supported me in mine.  These days I still tinker at guitar, as time permits – trying to remember all the material I once knew so well in my youth.  Though I have managed to pass most of the inspiration on to the next generation, our son W.T. has grown up listening to all my favorite musicians (and is a far better musician than I ever was).

Co-Founder

Duties / Responsibilities: Everything... From assisting visitors in our showroom, to the eclectic responsibilities of business accounting!  Since the inception of Artisan Guitars she has brought her more than 25 years of business management & customer service experience together, working every post within the shop with vigor and talent.

Ellie is an expert when it comes to matching players' skills with the best choice in woods for their sound board material and can demonstrate the intricate variances in each builder's voicing styles.

The consumate cheer leader, she helps keep our entire staff on track to offer the best customer service experience on the planet.  An excellent cook, Ellie provides delightful food recipes for our monthly newsletters.  So popular with our clients, we have devoted a section of our website to her recipes (for a sampling, learn more here).

Shop Manager

Adam was introduced to us by a mutual friend, and has become a fixture within our team ever since.  He began playing guitar in his youth, then later as a young adult proved he was a serious contender, studying under "A-list" LA session guitarist Steve Watson.  He attended University of Southern California in their Studio Jazz Guitar department for his major in music.  He subsequently toured the U.S. many times over, performing thousands of live shows, and was featured in a number of recordings.

Aspirations, Stewardship, and Responsibilities:

An integral part of daily operations, Adam offers clients expert advice from a player's perspective.  Our resident "tone junky" as it relates to tube amps & electric guitar pickups, he is as passionate about acoustic guitars, applying his working knowledge of our luthiers strengths in coaching clients on the guitar which best fits their playing style.

Adam's membership in our team utilizes his management talents as well, with an emphasis on positive support for our other staff members.  He is committed to assisting us all in the goals of creating a superior customer service experience, while broadening our collective knowledge along the way.

Continually honing his remarkable playing skills, you can catch Adam in live performances throughout the year at various local Nashville venues.

Customer Service

Duties / Responsibilities: Depending on his current college class schedule, you can find W.T. filling just about any role here in the shop depending on where he is needed. He is very knowledgeable about our instruments and is a great asset to our staff.  He's been known to spend hours with clients, explaining unique methods of construction for each builder.

He has worked trade booths with us at the annual CAAS Convention (Chet Atkins Appreciation Society), IBMA Convention (International Bluegrass Music Association), and attended annual NAMM shows.  His help is essential in coordinating the volunteer staff in hosting our annual Chet Atkins Tribute Show each July since 2005.

Having officially joined our staff at the ripe age of 11, as a teen W.T. also interned over summer vacations with our friends at National Reso-Phonic, Santa Cruz Guitars, and Composite Acoustics where he observed their build processes from start to finish.  A musician at heart, he plays clarinet, piano, ukulele, mandolin, and guitar.

Here he is visiting with Ricky Skaggs at the Bourgeois booth, Summer NAMM 2008... And one of our personal favorites, W.T. exchanging tunes with Buster B, at the CAAS Convention, that same year.