I returned to Northern California where I grew up; there I found a guitar and violin builder in Santa Cruz and arranged to work in his shop. Under his tutelage and with lots of help from a book called Constructing a Bluegrass Mandolin: A Complete Technical Guide (by Roger Siminoff), I built my second instrument, an F-5 mandolin.

Needless to say, I became hooked. I started a small shop in a garage and began building my first guitar. After the garage I graduated to a small store, where a friend and I did repair work and built a couple of guitars a year. After six years I was hired by the Santa Cruz Guitar Company; there I was able to hone my skills in all aspects of guitar production and repair work.