Terry Holt, Instruments for Bluegrass

Common Chords By Randall Hill

Terry Holt

Two unfinished mandolins are placed on shop towels atop a large table in Terry Holt’s shop. As he whittles the contour of a guitar neck for another instrument, the mahogany wood shavings start to collect at his feet.

“You just keep cutting and trimming but I got a right good ways to go there,” said Holt, a luthier, or someone who crafts or repairs stringed instruments. He braces the top and bottom of the guitar neck between his left hand and chest as his right hand carefully slices the wood, taking away every sliver that doesn’t look like it belongs.

Holt started making musical instruments in 1989 when the desire to play was bigger than his budget. “ I really wanted me a banjo and I really couldn’t afford one. So I just built me one.”

Shortly afterward he crafted a mandolin for his wife Tammy and then a guitar using a pre-cut kit. With that, Holt caught the instrument-making bug. He has built all his instruments since then, bending, cutting and shaping the wood himself.

“I grew up around bluegrass,” he said. “Lord, my whole life has been playing and listening to country and bluegrass music.”

After a hand injury cut short his to ability to play at performance levels, Holt decided to focus on his luthiery and in the last year or two, area players and dealers have begun to notice his instruments.

“It’s very rewarding to get through one and to see people buying them and playing them,” he said.

“It’s not like going down to the Guitar Center and buying a D-28 Martin,” said musician and friend Matt Morris of Holt’s guitars. “I mean it’s you. He’ll ask you what you like and how you want it. He makes them personal.”

Holt custom-fashions his instruments one at a time in his shop off Lumberjack Road outside Conway.

“I love music and love to be around it. It ain’t nothing else to do. That’s it,” he said with a laugh. “Build guitars and mandolins.”

Posted by
Randall Hill

Comments

[Patricia Robinson]

I love to visit common cords and read+ hear about musicians and how they love music. very, Randall has a special way of sharing their lives with us.
Im a poet myself and wish I could play like these guys and girls. PatthePoet

[Patricia Robinson]

A Musician's Love
Many don't know what this love is about- - it's a gift from God, a need to speak out.
From a little child this love is peeping from the clouds-waiting for the time to stand before a crowd.
You see , the musician and the singer are a special breed- - feeling things most people wouldn't believe.
Something as simple as a child falling to the ground-to the musician it brings a tune, a sound.
It brings lyrics, a beat- - as they pick up your their guitar and blend words as he or she taps their feet.
Yes , most wouldn't believe what helps to create a song - -it takes good, bad, right and wrong.
Because the musician hears what we can' t see-those things that lay just beneath this earthly society.
They hear your laughter, your pain- - with the keys of the piano, the words come frame by frame.
They create songs to tell of truth - -of God's precious love as the Bible gives us proof.
They sing in melodies and rhyme- - as the beat of the drum keeps time.
Now let's not forget the poet and their words- - looking to the musician to give melody and be heard.
Because if it wasn't for a poets need- - many songs would be like a empty seed.
A seed without growth or height- - a song dark as night.
So thank God for the music that touches and hugs-lets thank the musicians for their love. By: Patricia Robinson-8/8/08-2:45am

[Lifeteller7]

I think this guy Randall is an angel. He loves music. He loves to get involved with people. all kinds of people, and genra. I first met him when he did a piece on me, and his love of life and how he can help others get to where they should be is awesome. I found myself loving this stranger with a camera in his hand. See a lot of camera men are just that, Randall is a get involved man, I remember the first time he played in front of our open mic group. He shook as if to die, I know that that shake and a real humble God fearing person is shaky for sure. I shake everytime I perform on stage, every time. keep up the great work Randall, b/c when we see you coming in with cameras on your shoulders we know we are in great hands.