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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
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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
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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 |
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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 |
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Eleven-year member Scott van Linge has been playing guitar for well over forty years, thirty of those professionally. In 1975 Scott bought two guitars whose braces had been shaped by Jon Lundberg in Berkeley. In 1983, he began modifying guitars himself, shaping the braces parabolically for better sound. In 1995, he started his own business, Parabolic Brace Works.
www.vanlingeguitars.com/
this info updated 2005 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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
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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 |
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James Westbrook is a full-time guitar historian. Much of his knowledge was gained from working for London auction houses. His lecturing positions have included The London College Of Furniture (Guildhall University) world renowned for its guitar making course. He has given many lecture-recitals on the history of the guitar. These include the 1995 Classical Guitar Festival Of Great Britain and the Guild of American Luthiers 2004 convention, of which James is a member. James is the author of the very popular books; Guitars Through The Ages, and The Century that Shaped the Guitar. He runs a small guitar museum in Brighton, England. Currently, he is working on a four year research project into the Panormo school of lutherie.
www.TheGuitarMuseum.com
this info updated 2007 |
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Twelve-year GAL member Woodley White has juggled his day job as a Presbyterian minister with guitar making for the last fourteen years. Woodley can also be found playing guitar, entertaining one of his grandchildren, buying wood, or interviewing other luthiers.
www.whiteguitars.com/
this info updated 2006 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 2003 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
