How Did Dstring Come To Be?

Nice of you to ask!

The first part of the story goes way back to when I was a kid, in awe, watching my Dad as he fixed everything imaginable. I so admired his ability to interact successfully with things mechanical. I hoped maybe I would have some of that ability. The other building block was my interest in music, learning guitar and banjo growing up and eventually becoming a successful professional musician.

I took me many decades to recognize that this synthesis of mechanical and music had been preparing me for the eventuality of being a Luthier.

Fast forward to the late 1980s when I was teaching banjo lessons and working retail at Gordon Music here in central Massachusetts. One day I sold a customer a set of tuning machines for her Martin guitar. She asked if I could install them, but we didn't offer service at that time. It was a simple request; I could have done it easily. Soon afterwards I reflected on that moment and decided to acquire some basic tools and put up a bench so I could do simple repairs. This was the beginning!

I figured out the basics over the next few years. Then around 1992 I got an opportunity to work for Union Music, in Worcester, as their in-house guitar repairman. I was splitting my time between repairs and touring with bands for the next decade or so. During these years I really learned a lot, the work became more challenging and there was more of it.

By about 2012 I had slowed down my music career and was working almost full time at Union Music in the shop. That was when I began thinking I might someday go out on my own. In 2016 the time came for me to leave Union Music, and D String Guitar Repair was born.

I opened D String in Fiskdale (Sturbridge) MA in October of 2016. I chose Sturbridge partly to be closer to where I live, but Sturbridge is also a great place for a business and there are a lot of musicians in the nearby towns that don't like trekking to Worcester. Fueled by the additional customers, the shop got it's footing very quickly.

In 2024 the Fiskdale building was being sold, so I relocated the shop to Fiske Hill Plaza in Sturbridge (proper) and reopened as Dstring, in May of that year.

And here I am now in much more suitable space and really enjoying what I do. I'm genuinely grateful for the multitudes of musicians who trust me with their valued instruments.