Twenty-two year GAL member Jay Anderson met his mentor Jim Olson in 2003 and subsequently built ten instruments that closely followed tradition in form, finish, and wood choice. He then made a conscious hard-left turn and began building instruments that are distinctly nontraditional, especially in their visual aspect. He hopes they will inspire the music of players and the imagination of collectors.
▪ bio current as of 2024
2025
AL#156 p.74
Jay Anderson
▪ As you may recall from AL#151, Jay Anderson is a relatively late-blooming maker whose surprising flattop guitars glory in large, flamboyant slabs of found maple burls and crotches. In this article he travels to the Southwest to interview Don Kendall, the iconoclastic luthier and inventor of the JLD Bridge Doctor. He finds a tight-knit family operation that gets the job done in a low-tech and very direct manner, then takes a side trip to visit his mentor James Olson. Also, pointing to the future, Jay praises the involvement of his own young grandchildren in his lutherie shop.
2024
AL#151 p.40
Jay Anderson
▪ Innocently attending a James Taylor concert, an Art major learns to his surprise that guitars are made by people. Its an epiphany that changes his life. He has a day job as a building contractor, but he transitions to a full-time maker of fully functional musical sculptures. Along the way he finds himself established as the fun uncle of talented group of young musicians. Mentions James Taylor, Jim Olson, Brian Sutherland, Jenn Bostic, Dave Fenley, Pablo Picasso, Emil Ernebro, JLD Bridge Truss System, Don Kendall, pyrography, Harry Fleishman, Kevin Aram, Charles Rufino, Chris Herrod.
2018
AL#133 p.60
Jay Anderson
▪ Here’s a simple device that lets you string, play, and set up a flattop guitar before you glue the bridge on.