Lewis Santer has been building and repairing acoustic instruments since 1986. He apprenticed in the early 1990s with
TJ Thompson, managed
Ervin Somogyi's building and apprenticeship program for 8 years, has worked for 7 years with Geoff Lutrell and the Plek machine at
SF Guitarworks and has been an authorized
Martin Guitar Warranty repairman since 1995. He plays guitar and mandolin-family instruments in a number of traditional Irish bands, including one that he co-founded in 1997, Driving with Fergus.
Tomm Nguyen has been repairing fretted instruments for over a decade. He started playing guitar at age 12 and moved into electronic and woodworking repairs in college. He worked at
Keith Holland Guitar Hospital and then for 7 years at
SF Guitarworks with an emphasis on complex electronic modification and buttery fretwork. Tomm plays in the band
Hawak and as a solo performer under the moniker
Tomm Nguyen.
Jake Palladino has been really good at breaking guitars since his young punk rockers days. By necessity, he's become adept at fixing them. Later in life, he spent 8 years at
SF Guitarworks learning how to properly repair and modify stringed instruments. Jake is a busy performing musician who plays guitar in
Psychic Hit,
Pins of Light,
Hightower, and as a one-person band called
Your Leader.