Thirteen-year Guild member Glenn Uhler was born and raised about five miles from the Martin Guitar factory, but he keeps getting involved in other projects that keep him away from lutherie.  The complete restoration of a flooded 1975 sailboat has taken much of his spare time for the last six years.  That project is now drawing to a close and he can start working with tonewoods again, instead of marine plywood and teak.

this info updated 2007

14-year GAL member Wilfried Ulrich from Germany has been a high-school art and shop teacher for 32 years. He began making instruments in 1977 after seeing a televised course in making a fretted dulcimer by John Pearse. He has made Medieval fiddles, Viols da gamba, Harps, and Dulcimers, but Hurdy-gurdies were his favorites for a long time. 2006 he could elaborate the title of a master luthier in Markneukirchen. His latest interest is in Hummel - instruments, the great grandfathers of the Dulcimer. He could restaure several museumsinstruments of this type.

www.ulrich-instrumente.de/

this info updated 2004

Six-year GAL member Sheldon Urlik is a businessman and former Air Force fighter pilot. His passion is classical and flamenco guitars: collecting them, playing them, and listening to them.

this info updated 2000

Ehud "Udi" Vachterman is an army man, student, world traveler, and music lover. He learned lutherie in Argentina, where he read recycled copies of American Lutherie. He keeps on building and keeps on learning in Israel.

this info updated 2004

Veteran American Lutherie author, convention presenter, and thirteen-year member Scott van Linge has been revoicing guitars for twenty-five years, following the work of Jon Lundberg. He built his first guitar in 1999, and has finally finished #16, after reaffirming the rule about not fixing something not broke.

www.vanlingeguitars.com/

this info updated 2008

First time author Ed Vande Voorde is a eighteen-year Guild member.

this info updated 1988

Welcome first-time author James Vanderplas!

this info updated 1995

Alfredo Velázquez made his first guitar at age twenty-one, but he found his father's workshop irresistible as soon as he could walk, and has spent much of his adult life at the workbench alongside Manuel. He builds guitars in the tradition taught to him by his father, but with, inevitably, his own characteristic sound.

this info updated 2008

Manuel Velázquez is a classical guitar maker on whom words of respect and praise seem dwarfed by the largeness of the man himself. In his ninetieth year at the 2006 GAL Convention, he spread joy and enthusiasm for the classical guitar with unassuming humility and grace.

this info updated 2008

Carol Ventura received her PhD in Art from the University of Georgia. She currently teaches Art History at Tennessee Technological University.

iweb.tntech.edu/cventura/

this info updated 2008

Peter Vilé‚ has been building lutes and guitars since retiring in 1992 from IBM Netherlands, where his work as a systems engineer involved design on an architectural level combined with a strong interest in details. This two-level approach he feels, also applies to lutherie because it requires understanding the theoretical aspects as well as acquiring manual skills.

this info updated 2008

David Vincent is a full-time lutherie teacher.

this info updated 1991

Buzz Vineyard joined the Guild in 1976 and has attended and exhibited at several GAL conventions going all the way back to 1977.

this info updated 1997

John L. Walker has enjoyed a distinguished career as a performer, composer and musicologist. A native of Iowa, he received a Bachelor’s degree from Drake University. He continued his musical studies at Temple University in Philadelphia as a student of Philadelphia Orchestra member Louis Rosenblatt. In 1995, he graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Nebraska after completing a dissertation on Latin American chamber music for the oboe. Walker has held many professional positions, including principal oboe of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Guadalajara, the USAF Heritage of America Band and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Ecuador. While in Ecuador, he performed the world premiere of Desafio X by Brazilian composer Marlos Nobre and was recognized as an “American Cultural Specialist” by the U.S. Embassy in Quito. He was also on the faculty of the National Conservatory, where he taught oboe, forms and analysis, and music appreciation. In the United States Walker has maintained a prominent profile as a soloist and recitalist. He is principal oboist of the University City Symphony Orchestra and in 2007 he performed the Mozart Oboe Concerto with this orchestra. As a musicologist, he has published articles about Latin American and Ecuadorian music in several well-known music journals and has presented papers at a number of international conferences. The recipient of a Fulbright award, Walker will be in Ecuador during the next two summers performing, conducting research and teaching. Walker joined the faculty of St. Charles Community College, a two-year junior college near St. Louis, Missouri, in 2003 as associate professor of music and instrumental music program coordinator. He is also the director of the SCC Concert Artist Series, which presents a yearly slate of accomplished local and regional artists.

this info updated 2008

Marilyn Wallin was raised in the organized chaos of music and sawdust, so it was inevitable that the two would meet and that violins, violas, and cellos would emerge.  Member, Board of Directors of the VSA and of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.  Marilyn just makes new instruments, as many as possible, as often as possible.

this info updated 2007

Guitar-parts powerhouse Ken Warmoth is a twenty-two-year Guild Member.

www.warmoth.com/

this info updated 1991

Viol maker Donald Warnock lectured at Guild conventions in 1979 and 1990, and has been a GAL member sixteen out of twenty-one years.

Donald passed away in 1997

this info updated 1991

Peggy Warren works at hammond Ashley Associates, a violin family making and repair shop specializing in bass. She's a violinist. The shop has maintained Guild membership for the past twenty four years.

www.hammondashley.com/

this info updated 1993

Ten year GAL member Jim Watts lives and works in the mountains of northern New Mexico. He splits his time between engineering during the day and lutherie at night. Last year he started a small business supplying carbon fiber to luthiers with his daughter Rebecca.

www.jameswattsguitars.com/LAC.htm

this info updated 2007

A luthier since 1973, Jess Wells has quit his job at the pipe organ company and is back to focusing on 'gambas. His real love, however, is making split-bamboo fly rods.

this info updated 1996

James Westbrook is working on his Master's degree which delves into how to authenticate Torres guitars using the latest technologies available: CT scans, dendrochronology, chemical analysis, and more. He finds time to run his museum, buy and sell instruments, and be with his young family.

www.TheGuitarMuseum.com

this info updated 2008

Fifteen-year GAL member Woodley White has just completed building his new home in Hawaii after retiring from his day job as a Presbyterian minister. He's anxious to get his hands back in the rosewood and spruce dust in his brand new climate-controlled shop.

www.whiteguitars.com/

this info updated 2008

Steve Wiencrot has been a GAL member since 2000.  He builds ukuleles and mandolins and rescues old guitars.

www.wiencrotinstruments.com/

this info updated 2007

Byron Will has been involved with the Guild as well as building harpsichords since 1975. His lifelong interest in photography took a digital turn in 2000. He is currently teaching digital photography and Photoshop at Portland Community College in Portland, OR.

this info updated 2005

Thirty one -year Guild member, guitar maker, and book author Jim Williams tells his life story in this issue.

this info updated 1995

Laurie Williams has been building instruments of indigenous timbers for over fifteen years in his one man workshop nestled between giant Kauri forests and the pristine beaches of New Zealand's Far North. An upcoming documentary film The Song of the Kauri featuring Laurie's use of kauri is due for international release in 2008.

www.guitars.co.nz/

this info updated 2008

Dave Wilson works at Hammond Ashley Associates, a violin family making and repair shop specializing in bass. He's a former nuclear metalurgist. The shop has maintained Guild membership for the past twenty-four years.

www.hammondashley.com/

this info updated 1993

Jimmi Wingert did her first inlay in 2002 and has been addicted ever since.

this info updated 2008

Twelve-year GAL member and first-time author Kathy Wingert did her time in bootcamp and around-the-clock lutherie. Fifty Guild quarterlies showing up in her mailbox still haven't shown her the error of her ways, so she continues to do what she does in her small shop in Southern California.

this info updated 2008

Darryl Wolfe is the publisher of The F5 Journal and a mandolin player of note. His father Bobby Wolfe is a past author and a six year member.

www.f5journal.com/

this info updated 1989

Four-year Guild member Brian Woods is an engineer in the auto-parts industry who enjoys guitar making as a hobby. As such, fixtures for low volume production (and low cost!) are a key interest, and he says he has benefited from numerous ideas and inspirations from fellow GAL members.

this info updated 2006

A four-year GAL member and relative newcomer to the lutherie scene, Paul Woolson has hit the ground running. Building under the company name Woolson Soundcraft, Paul is constantly obsessing over how to make building easier and more accurate. But aren't we all?

this info updated 2004

Marc Worsfold studied instrument repair at Merton College in Surrey and violinmaking at the London College of Furniture. He has been building acoustic and electric guitars since 1975.

this info updated 1994

Finding Irving Sloane’s Classic Guitar Construction in his late teens started it all for seven-year GAL member David Worthy. Not being a fan of the dreaded nought, most of his efforts have been focused on small-bodied fingerstyle guitars. For the past ten years he has been trying to swap his "real" job as a touring theater production manager for a quieter life in the workshop.

www.worthyguitars.com/

this info updated 2006

Thirty-year member Rossco Wright has been involved in stringed instrument repair and other guitar-related businesses for twenty years. In his current endeavor he builds and sells cool practice/travel guitars with partner Frank Nakatsuma. In his spare time he enjoys fly fishing and playing jazz guitar.

this info updated 1994

George Wunderlich was recently featured on the PBS show "The Woodwright's Shop." www.banjodatabase.org is an all early banjo (1600-1870) image database with extensive information on original banjos, 19th century images and texted based banjo information that will be helpful to luthiers, researches and historians.

www.banjodatabase.org/
www.wunderbanjo.com/wunbio.htm

this info updated 2008

The Guild's only member in India, Dominic Xavier has a high-ranking day job with the National Drinking Water Mission. Read about his lutherie obsession in this issue. He's also the only GAL member with a name beginning with X.

www.arulguitars.com/

this info updated 1997

Five-year Guild member Brian Yarosh was a student of Harry Fleishman back in 2000 and has never stopped building. He currently constructs steel string and classical guitars in his basement workshop.

www.castorinstruments.com/

this info updated 2005

Michael Yeats has been an instrument maker since 1975.  He started his career as an apprentice lute maker, and has made and repaired instruments ranging from concertinas and guitars, to pipe organs.  He focused on bows in 1987, moving to New York City, where he worked for 15 years, making, repairing, and restoring bows for musicians from all over the world.  He is now making bows in Portland, Oregon.  In addition to bow making, Michael enjoys a good mystery, and a great fountain pen. 

www.michaelyeats.com/

this info updated 2008

Fifteen-year Guild member Jeffrey Yong has traveled from Malaysia to two GAL conventions, a 20 hour trip each way. He's an urbanite who traverses the jungles in search of tonewood. He welcomes everybody to visit him and he'll gladly be a host to all.

www.gimmusic.com/

this info updated 2008

Dmitry Zhevlakov is the son and grandson of luthiers, making guitars and decorative mosaic work. He is the only current GAL member in Russia.

www.zhevlakov.com

this info updated 2007

David Zogg has been a guitarist since 1962, an amateur luthier since 1987, and a full-time pro doing repair and restoration since 1993. He was previously a designer of industrial robots and the like.

this info updated 2000

Twenty-one-year member Lloyd Zsiros is a composer expert, a guitar maker, and a maker of small intricate boxes.

this info updated 1992