My love affair with the guitar first began while studying mechanical engineering at Cornell University. After shelling out $199 for an electric guitar/amp combo during my junior year, I spent every day working on Led Zeppelin riffs whenever I wasn't attending lectures or crunching through problem sets. My interest in music and the guitar steadily progressed to the forefront and after graduating I decided to rethink my future in engineering. What better place to do that than in a garage three blocks from one of the best surf spots in Santa Cruz, California?

My primary concerns over the next few years became scheduling my work around low tide and religiously practicing guitar. By this point I had almost completely migrated to playing acoustic guitar after becoming exposed to both Leo Kottke and the hearty bluegrass scene in California.

Around this time the previously dormant mechanical engineer was itching to show his face again and after meeting a few local luthiers, the building seed was planted. Looking through luthier books was incredibly intimidating from both a skill set and tools perspective. So, after spending a few summers in the mountains outside of South Lake Tahoe and managing to save some money, I found Sergei de Jonge's guitar course (dejongelutherie.com) in Chelsea, Quebec. My knowledge of luthiers at that time was essentially non-existent and my primary reason for choosing Sergei was because he offered vegetarian meals! Little did I know that I had inadvertantly landed in the shop of one of the world's most respected luthiers!

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