© January 2012 - John Kelly - JK Mandolins ©

I have been building my instruments here at Ardnadam on the shores of the Holy Loch in Argyll since 2005, having decided, on retiring from a career in teaching English in Dunoon Grammar School, to pursue my interest in acoustic music and acoustic fretted stringed instruments.   I also wanted to avoid the “Now I am retired, I have nothing to do” syndrome and to do something far removed from the job I’d pursued for thirty-five years!

I attended on a part-time basis the excellent Stringed Instruments Course run at Anniesland College in Glasgow.  Here I was fortunate enough to be tutored by three superb instrument builders, Paul Hyland, Bill Kelday and Michael Ritchie, and I have maintained contact with those three and they continue to offer their invaluable support.  My thanks to you all, gents.

While at  Anniesland I designed and built a travel guitar and this instrument gained the Best Musical Instrument Award and Gold Medal for Best in Show at the 2005 Craftex Exhibition run annually by the Trades House of Glasgow and open to all students on craft and creative courses in Glasgow FE Colleges.  

Since then I have continued trying to develop my skills and have concentrated mainly on building flat-backed mandolins.  The fascination in building the instruments is in trying to achieve that blend of playability, looks and sound that defines a really great instrument.  Each instrument I construct adds something to my fund of knowledge and the quest goes on.  I have also made octave and bouzouki models, another travel guitar and a tenor guitar - each as a means of exploring new sounds and trying new ways of achieving a satisfactory sound from different instruments.

Although I have no desire to build full-time or commercially I have been very encouraged by the fact that fellow players who have seen and heard the instruments have liked them enough to want to play them  and even acquire them.  Click here to go to the Instruments page, or just click on the “Instruments” button bars on any page.

I am keen to make contact with other builders and players to share ideas and discuss instrument building and playing, so please feel free to e-mail me at: info@luthierjohn.co.uk

Soundcloud:  March 2010, a new Music page has been added featuring mp3 files of some of the instruments.  This is updated regularly, most recently Feb 2012.