The walls in Don MacRostie鈥檚 studio in Athens County are covered in tools. Screwdrivers and scissors hang above tin cans full of markers and brushes. Piles of wood line tabletops and everything is covered in a light layer of sawdust.
This is where MacRostie has spent nearly half of a century honing his craft: mandolin making. His are played by some of the best players in the world, including and .
He holds up pieces for one of the instruments.
鈥淲hat I'm modeling these after is 100-year-old Gibson mandolins,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose were the mandolins used and played in early bluegrass. All the old-timers had those old instruments and our ears have become attuned to the sound they make.
鈥淪o I'm trying to produce that sound.鈥�
The process of making a mandolin
The secret to that sound starts with wood, sourced from not-too-far away.
鈥淢y [mandolin] tops come from West Virginia red spruce,鈥� MacRostie said.
The instrument鈥檚 back is made from curly maple sourced from places like West Virginia and Ohio.
To create the sides of the instrument, MacRostie bends wide strips of wood into a mold.
He carefully carves domes to form the mandolin tops, using a self-rigged contraption to measure their flexibility.
鈥淓ven one part, like the back, takes quite a while,鈥� MacRostie said. 鈥淚t's got a center seam. So you take rough wood and glue it together, and then you have to machine it down and then carve it, and then you're only halfway there. Once you glue it on, there's finishing and binding.鈥�
When each piece is complete, MacRostie puzzles them together to create a finished instrument.
He stains it, applies varnish, polishes it and adds strings.
Finally, it鈥檚 ready to play.
MacRostie typically makes about seven or eight instruments a year. This year, he intends to build a dozen.
MacRostie鈥檚 story
MacRostie wasn鈥檛 always a mandolin builder.
In fact, he started with a guitar he picked up in high school.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 quite play in tune,鈥� MacRostie remembered. 鈥淚t was inexpensive, so I fiddled around with that, learned to play and dragged it around with me.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 until many years later that he discovered the mandolin.
鈥淎nd I was also introduced to a fellow who was building dulcimers at the time,鈥� MacRostie said. 鈥淚 put two and two together and I thought, 鈥業'm gonna build something.鈥� And the mandolin was smaller than the guitar. I didn't have a lot of space, so I thought, 鈥業鈥檒l try to build a mandolin,鈥� and I just stuck with it.鈥�
He鈥檚 been building mandolins ever since. Every one is unique and each speaks to musicians in its own way.
鈥淭he instrument inspires the player,鈥� MacRostie said. 鈥淚t feeds them.鈥�
鈥淚've heard players are selling a good instrument, and I鈥檓 like, 鈥榃hy are you selling that?鈥� They said, 鈥榃ell, it doesn't feed me anymore. It鈥檚 not nourishing.鈥� So I've always tried to hold on to that thought of wanting to produce an instrument that feeds, that nourishes the player.鈥�
MacRostie is currently preparing parts for about six dozen mandolins.
鈥淚'm 79. I think I've got 75 mandolins left in me. I'm preparing for that. I hope I got more,鈥� he said with a laugh.
He鈥檚 teaching his 15-year-old grandson the craft too, nourishing the next generation of mandolin makers, players and listeners.