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Frank Ford

Frank is one of our all-time favorites. Rather than me writing his bio, I'll let him speak for himself. He writes...

I've been a full-time fretted instrument builder and repairman since the fall of 1969, and have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area all my life, except for a hiatus while I attended the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1962 to 1966. It was there that I fell under the spell of the bluegrass music and started to play mandolin. My first mandolin was pretty crummy, and before long I was tinkering with it. Tinkering comes more naturally for me than music does!

I built my first instruments in 1966 and 1967 when a friend suggested we try to make some dulcimers together. About that time I met Richard Johnston, with whom I struck up an immediate friendship. It was 2 years later, in 1969, that he and I founded Gryphon Stringed Instruments as a guitar building venture. We had built some 40 guitars and a few mandolins and banjos by the time we opened our first retail store in early 1973.

Our business has grown considerably since then. . .

Gryphon now employs twelve and occupies a building with about 7,500 square feet of floor space. We are retailers of new and used instruments, accessories, recordings and instructional materials. At least 15 music teachers call our store home. For the full Gryphon story, please see our website at www.gryphonstrings.com. 

The FRETS.COM website is separate from Gryphon's so I can maintain it at home and keep adding material in my spare time. I'm way too busy at the shop actually working on the instruments. 
I've been the area's C.F.Martin warranty repair guy for a long time now, better than 25 years. As a general practitioner in the area of acoustic fretted instrument repair, I've developed something of a reputation for being willing to work on just about anything. While much of my work is on delicate and sensitive instruments, I really enjoy being able to make a modest guitar play correctly for a beginning student. The ultimate goal is to make more musicians!

We like our guests to feel at home. Here, the R-V staff greets Frank in his usual Hawaiian shirt mode!