Meet the Maker: Ted Megas

by Jonathon Peterson

Originally published in American Lutherie #101, 2010



Tell me about your life. Start from the beginning.

I was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. I lived there until I was five, when my father got transferred to Buffalo, New York. He was a metallurgist at Bethlehem Steel.


When you were growing up, Bethlehem was a working industrial town.

It had Lehigh University, where my father graduated. That is a prestigious engineering college, and then they had the steel mill, so it was pretty industrial, but now that the steel mill is gone it is actually a really scenic place. Because it’s Bethlehem they have a Christmas festival with lots of music, and there are other things going on.

I guess I was an independent kind of kid. I remember playing, and I remember getting stung by bees. I remember the house we lived in, which my father built. I have gone back to visit it, but I don’t remember too much from those years.