Strings attached

Nice writeup in the San Fernando Valley Sun papers [link goes to PDF file] about classical guitar maker — and actual dustbury.com reader — Greg Brandt, who's been doing this sort of thing for the last quarter-century or so and now has a colossal reputation among Los Angeles-area luthiers.

Brandt keeps no inventory: each instrument is custom-built, and he has some pretty respectable clients. (The name of the late Tommy Tedesco, who played on tons of L.A. sessions, including Phil Spector's, and sustained a solo career as a jazz guitarist, was the first to jump out at me.) Just think: Greg's doing something he finds endlessly fascinating, and he's getting paid for it. Now that's living.