Hillbilly telecaster: salvaged barn wood, leather, and hardware from the Hill farm
Ode to Montana mining history parlor guitar: copper inlays throughout
Leopardwood acoustic
Custom stratocaster with drumstick polka dots
Custom curly maple electric
My current electric base: Russian Olive, Maple, and walnut with gold hardware
Hillbilly Telecaster
Leather was from an old belt on a saw mill at the Hill family farm
Headstock logo was a play off the Hill family cattle brand
Body was reclaimed barnwood from a shed on the Hill family farm
Close-up of the reclaimed barnwood
Detail of the reclaimed barnwood
Fully assembled
Gold mandolin
Original mandolin: unplayable, painted gold, client wants it restored to playing condition
Removed the gold paint and top, previously crushed and very poorly repaired
Hand-carving new top
Mandolin top-matching finish
Mandolin back-matching finish
Back in playing condition, final tuning and set-up
German bowl-backed lute
Purchased 40+ years ago in Germany, crushed during flight home, in pieces ever since, large piece from back lost over the years, restore to playing condition
Missing part of sound board and decorative scroll detail, numerous cracks throughout
Crack in headstock
Reassembled back, hand-bending new piece, original wood unknown, difficult to match
Reattached braces, cleats to reinforce cracks
Carved new piece for scroll and matched wear/finish of original
Creative binding clamps while gluing back together
Back together and refinished
Candy-apple refinish Harmony guitar
Found at a garage sale, gifted to me by a friend
Removing paint
Original used a penny to shim the neck
New fretboard and custom bullseye inlays
Candy-apple red finish and new binding,
Finished product, new gold hardware
Leopardwood Acoustic
It was difficult to steam-bend such figured wood and took several tries
Fully assembled view of guitar top
Fully finished guitar back
Fully assembled and ready for delivery
Custom Inlays
Custom copper inlays
Replacing various pieces on 100+ year old bowl-backed mandolin
Replacing fret inlays on 100+ year old bowl-backed mandolin
Custom cattle brand inlay made from Salmon River freshwater mussel shell
Custom Idaho-themed fret markers
Custom Idaho-themed fret markers
Headstock logo inlay
My first inlay-headstock name
Custom freemason-themed fretmarkers
Custom freemason-themed fretmarkers
Custom freemason-themed fretmarkers
Guitar-inspired jewelry
Refretting project of “Dad’s old guitar”
Saved frets and made cross necklace charm for daughter
Earrings using wood scraps and materials from guitar work
Earrings using wood scraps and materials from guitar work
