Dart Instruments
I’ve been a luthier for almost 60 years. I began playing guitar when I was ten years old. A few years later restored an old fancy parlor guitar for myself. In 1964, I built my first stringed instrument: an Appalachian dulcimer, followed by a mandolin. When I graduated from high school in ’66, I began working for Charles Chase of the Folk Music Center, where I built & repaired a wide variety of instruments for the store. Soon I set up a workshop in my parents’ garage and started taking custom orders. I built five lutes before I made my first classical guitar, in 1967. I moved my shop to northern California in 1983 & continue to make instruments of many kinds.
As a custom luthier, I’ve built nearly sixty different types of instruments over my career: guitars, mandolins, lutes, lap steel guitars, ukuleles, and many more. My philosophy has always been to satisfy the needs of each client, to make an instrument that allows that person to express their creativity. I’ve built them basic and functional, and I’ve also done fancy ones with all sorts of custom inlay for family heirlooms. I like it all!
Website: http://www.luthier.com
Located: Navarro, California
Professionally Selling: Since 1966
Professional Organizations: Guild of American Luthiers , Lute Society of America
Shows: La Conner Guitar Festival , Amigo Bay Area Guitar Show , California Bluegrass Association Father's Day Festival , Winters Guitarfest , Grace Hudson Museum
Artists: Ben Harper , David Lindley , Jim Messina , Ed Littlefield (Marley's Ghost) , The Real Sarahs
Instrument Types: Steel String Acoustic , Mandolin , Nylon String Acoustic , Ukulele , Lap Steel Guitar
