My desire to build guitars evolved from being a life-long musician, and a second-generation professional homebuilder and woodworker. I’ve been lucky. All of the woodworking and music background that I’ve been absorbed in and consumed with my entire life has allowed me to take a more natural, and instinctive direction to becoming a self-taught luthier. With occasional guidance from established luthiers, and feedback from players, I primarily rely on a strong intuitive approach, rather than a scientific, educated approach to my craft.

I’ve learned first hand the impact that different woods, body styles, scale lengths, ect. have on the guitar’s sound and playability and that helps me to cater to the customer’s desires and expectations.

I personally obtain tonewoods from all across the United States, hand selecting only what I feel is the best available including three varieties of eastern maple, stunning figured walnut, myrtle, and maple from the northwestern states. For topwoods, I’ve hand picked sitka spruce and western red cedar from suppliers in the Northwest. Our local Colorado engelman spruce makes a beautiful and great sounding topwood.

All of my guitars are entirely handcrafted –– nothing is farmed out. In this day and age of mass-produced, quality guitars, those who build them by hand have to be looked at for more than just the object they’re putting out. It’s more of the time and skill they’re putting into it. I like to compare it to an original oil painting versus a print. The print is gorgeous. It does everything the oil painting does, but it doesn’’t have the artist’s touch.

“While many luthiers are able to create great looking instruments, few can create a guitar that produces the complete tonal qualities and volume that Kevin is achieving,” says Jeff Miller, former editor of Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine and a session musician who plays Chelf’’s guitars. “While writing and editing for Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine, I was fortunate enough to play guitars built by most of this country’s finest luthiers. They regularly sent us guitars in hopes we might review their instruments to our readers. Kevin’s wood selection and bracing techniques are allowing him to create guitars that sound as if they have “aged” like the highly sought after pre-war Martin guitars. And these are new guitars –– which makes you wonder just how good they’ll sound twenty or thirty years down the road.”