Jim White plays his new 12 string model.Jim's Bio
I guess I'm a westerner at heart. I was born in Hilsboro, Oregon on September 16, 1953 and I haven't made it farther east then my current home in Teton Valley, Idaho. In my high school wood shop class I first discovered my passion and talent for woodworking. It is a craft and art that inspires and challenges me every day.
After high school I moved to Bend, Oregon to attend community college and like many of the post Woodstock generation discovered the guitar. However, a year later, a serious car accident shattered my body, my college career and my new guitar. Fortunately, my parents helped me get my life back together and even located a luthier in Portland to repair my guitar. As fate would have it we also discovered this guitar maker was starting an apprenticeship program. It was the perfect opportunity to merge my passion for woodworking and the love of guitar. My brother Kenneth and I both signed on.
I was extremely fortunate to gain apprenticeship with Jeffrey R. Elliott, now internationally renowned for his exquisite instruments. Jeff guided and inspired us in the apprenticeship for two and a half years, patiently and graciously sharing the secrets and crafts of building and repairing an instrument that is not only a piece of art but can create art through its sound. To this day, I consider Jeff my mentor, friend and source of inspiration.
Once the apprenticeship with Jeff ended, Ken and I put together a repair and guitar making shop on our parents country property. As artists we were definitely of the starving variety since our location was pretty hard to find but we did make a meager living building and repairing instruments. At one point, Patrick O'Hearn, bassist for Frank Zappa, Missing Persons and others, stumbled upon us and I made him a new neck for his old Fender bass. Ahh, the star struck luthier. Ken and I continued building and repairing until 1981 when I struck out with a friend to find fortune(not to mention tremendous skiing and fishing) in Victor, Idaho.
The fortune managed to elude me but good fortune came my way in the form my beautiful wife Kim and our son Dylan. In those early days in Idaho I created a living selling power tools and doing custom furniture for the high end homes in Jackson Hole and Teton Valley. The intricate furniture building taught me new aspects of my craft that serves me well in building instruments. Today I am happy with a fine shop near Victor, Idaho and though I will still do some custom inlay work for high ticket homes most of my time is devoted to creating my instruments. Stop by and visit if you're ever in the area. Maybe we can even go fly-fishing.