The David Sturgill Story

by David Sturgill

Originally published in Guild of American Luthiers Newsletter Volume 2 #1, 1974 and Lutherie Woods and Steel String Guitars (?), 1998

See also,
Sturgill on Wood by David Sturgill



I have been making musical instruments since I was twelve years old. That makes 45 years. I still have the first instrument I made: a five-string banjo with a cat skin head.

Since that first crude beginning I have made many instruments including violins, mandolins, and guitars. I have built many electric instruments, but my first love is for acoustic instruments, and today I do no build electrics.

For thirty years I lived in the Washington D.C. area where I was employed by the Bell Telegram Co. I was in the General Engineering Dept., in the field of electronics and switching systems.

I took a deferred pension and resigned in 1968. I wanted to have some time left to do something more rewarding and enjoyable than pushing a pencil.