Mandolin and/or guitar luthier near north Georgia?

[Jim Mullins]

Does anyone know of a good luthier for mandolin and/or guitar within driving distance (i.e., 2 hours) from north Georgia? I live in Cherry Log, between Ellijay and Blue Ridge. I have a couple of 50's era Martins and a Buckeye mandolin.

I've had Lynne Dudenbostel do a re-fret on my mandolin; he did a great job but I had to ship it, which I would rather not do.

I'm just talking about relatively minor things - for serious problems, I would send whatever instrument to the best person I could find, wherever they are. If my mandolin needed serious work I'd probably send it back to Pete Hart, who built it. And I've talked with Richard Starkey about working on the guitars; he's near Nashville, so not too far away.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Jim Mullins

[Scot63]

Custom Fretted Instruments in Sparta, TN, is a little less than three hours away, so might be on the outside of your range. But they've done excellent work on several instruments for me. The master luthier at the shop, Jim Grainger, recently passed away, but he passed on his skills to several others. Website is here: http://www.customfret.com/

[Jim Mullins]

Thanks, Scot - I had talked to Jim Grainger several years ago, but did not realize he had passed. I'm sorry to hear that, but glad to hear that he passed on his knowledge

[soliver]

Marty Jacobson is in the Vinings/Smyrna area just to the Northwest of Atlanta. Also, the guys at Maple Street Guitars in Atlanta (buckhead) are pretty good from what I hear.