About Dave Rector, Luthier

I've been around woodworking ever since I can remember. My dad was
a carpenter and cabinetmaker from the time I was around 5 years old.
There were always tools around and I eventually got interested in them and wanted to learn how to use them. Dad was a good teacher. He taught me to use tools safely and how to think ahead about what I was planning to do. He's gone now, but I still have the memories and some of his tools that I use frequently.

I first became interested in building musical instruments around 1975 when I saw my first mountain dulcimer. I purchased a kit and built my own dulcimer and I think it was from that point on that I was hooked.

I built several more dulcimers and a balalaika along the way, as well as doing some restoration of older banjos, mandolins and the like. I also shelled out what I thought was a major amount for a complete guitar kit from International Luthiers Supply in Tulsa.

I carried that kit around with me for a dozen or so moves over twenty years before meeting my wife Anita and moving back to Oklahoma from Colorado. When I came back here I was able to set up my shop and built another couple of dulcimers, one I still have, the other I gave away.

It was now time to start building guitars. I finished my first guitar in December of 2000. That did it, now it was an official addiction. In February of 2002 I went to Easton, PA to take a class from Frank Finocchio, after watching his excellent five tape video series on building acoustic guitars. The training I received from Frank really opened my eyes to the possibility of building and selling guitars. I was also introduced to the MIMF online forum by a fellow student, Brock Poling. The forum, located at www.mimf.com, has been a major learning experience for me. All the latest tools and techniques seem to find their way there.

After Frank's class, I finished another eight or nine guitars and again felt I was missing something regarding how to build consistently good guitars. I signed up for another class, this time with Charles Fox up in Portland OR. Now we are talking - this guy is the king of jigs and fixtures. We spent a week just learning from Charles. No guitar building, no finishing, no neck carving, just Charles telling us about his techniques, jigs, fixtures and how they are all used to build consistent quality guitars.

I have completed quite a few guitars now and each one just keeps getting better. It seems as though I am always building another jig or fixture to make the process more efficient and the guitars even more consistent.

Shared knowledge is a good thing.