Eddie Lee Brown is a Luthier on the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Fort Collins, Colorado. Having played guitars for over 45 years, he is well versed in what feels good in a player’s hands. He places a high value on playability as well as on sound. As for the sound of the instrument he told me “I had played factory built guitars for most of my life. High end Martins, Gibsons and Taylors, but all factory built. I remember the first time someone put a custom build guitar in my hands. This was a guitar made to get the most out of each set of wood. It was like getting out of a Volkswagen and into a Ferrari! I could not believe it was the same instrument. At that point I realized I wanted to do that. My days of making music playing in bands and performing might be over, but I had found a new way to Make Music.”
Eddie Lee started researching the mechanics and science behind creating a guitar with great tone and playability. Besides being in a touring band in younger years, he had careers as an Electrical Engineer, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, an Artist (bonsai grower, photographer, and producing stained glass windows), and a Music Repair person in a music instrument store. When someone comments that those are disparate careers, he explains that those skill sets are actually quite similar to what is necessary to understand and build a great guitar. Being an engineer gives him a basis to understand the physics which allows a guitar to produce a superb tone. Also having designed, built and delivered electronics systems gives him the feel of how to convert theory into high performance products. His goal is to combine old school guitar building techniques with modern scientific techniques, thus getting the best out of both worlds. He believes that his experience both as an artist and in the healing arts gives him insight and feel for the old hands-on techniques. Of course his background playing guitar and working at a local music store (Billy’s Band Aid!) repairing guitars in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas was valuable training. “I noticed that if I did a custom setup on each guitar that came in the store, they sold much quicker.”
Eddie Lee plays many instruments, including clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophone, Native American flutes, keyboards, electric guitar, and fingerstyle acoustic guitar. He is a fly fisherman, and tries to get out at least once a week to challenge trout on the rivers and streams of northern Colorado.
Eddie Lee also crafts Native American wood flutes. He initially honed his instrument making skills producing these flutes; see photos in the gallery and sound clips on the Watch & Listen page.
