GD
Armstrong: Luthier
G.D.Armstrong was born and raised in Ohio, USA. He made his first instrument , a cigar box banjo, at age 10 and has been an instrument maker and musician ever since. He has worked in a wide varity of trades including farming, construction, US Forest Service, sheetmetal working, ship building and bee keeping! For the last thirty plus years he has lived outside of Yamhill, Oregon on 100 acres of woodland where he currently builds his stringed instruments.
He enjoys both the challenges and rewards of instrument building because
it requires satisfying several senses at the same time. Acoustically the
instrument must be able to create the sounds associated with that family
of instruments. Visually it has to be aesthetically pleasing. The instrument
must also be comfortable to hold and play and be structurally sound. George
David likens making a traditional instrument such as a violin to "writing
a sonnet or haiku," because there are certain constraints placed on
your work by the traditional form, but much freedom is allowed within that
structure.
George David’s instruments have been used in performances by members of the Portland Baroque Orchestra, Rendezvous String Band, and Joe McMurrian of Woodbrain. His work has been shown in many galleries and can now be seen at Newberg Music Center.
Some of the instruments are made with wood that he harvests on his property. He is also a partner in 'Newberg Music Center' located in Newberg, Oregon. Most of the instruments that he has made have been under his own name, GD Armstrong™, but some have been produced in collaberation with Mark Fitzsimon under the Green Man Humming™ label. These were all solid body electric bouzoukis. He is currently also producing a line of custom solid body electric guitars under the name of Bluenote™ which are available only from Newberg Music Center.
