The Gerald Anderson Luthierie
The name Wayne C. Henderson is synonymous with the finest guitar construction in the world. Henderson has received many accolades over the years, and having a school of arts named after him is only befitting for a man of his caliber. The Wayne C. Henderson School of Appalachian Arts (The Henderson), in Marion, Virginia, is dedicated to preserving and promoting, and providing a learning experience that has its roots in the culture and heritage of the Southern Appalachian mountains. The Luthierie studio is named after Gerald Anderson, who was a mentor, friend, and colleague of many.
Some acoustic guitarists wonder if they are capable of building their own guitar, and some experiment around with kits and videos. Many are on the continuous hunt for the ultimate guitar, and they know the rudimentary aspects of guitar construction. The Henderson has become a flagship for embracing traditional arts and culture in Virginia, and brings international recognition for outstanding programs such as the Henderson Guitar Building Workshops, the recently implemented Introduction to Luthierie: Ukulele Building Workshops and the Burke Letterpress Shop, with many other offerings found on the Henderson website. The team of three luthiers in the guitar building workshop, bring their unique and vast experiences, to carry on the tradition of acoustic guitar construction learned from Henderson, Gerald Anderson, (deceased) and Don Wilson (deceased). Prior issues of Bluegrass Unlimited have published articles on Henderson, Wilson, Anderson, and Spencer Strickland.
Wayne Henderson is very proud of the program, noting, “It promotes bluegrass music and instrument making. I started out as a teacher there. The young fellers teaching are doing a great job; Spencer, Marty, and Josh, as well as Catherine. I’m very happy they named the program after me, and it keeps a legacy going.”
Catherine Schrenker is the Executive Director of The Henderson School, and since her appointment in 2014 as the founding director, the programs have flourished under her leadership. According to Schrenker, “The guitar building workshop has evolved gradually over the past ten years to become the amazing experience it now is…it is often referred to as ‘life-changing’ by many who attend. Perhaps the greatest testament to the quality of the guitars—and the building experience itself—is that every workshop has two or three returning participants, often signing up on the last day for a future workshop. Some build for themselves, experimenting with different woods, styles, finishes—and others return to make guitars for their children and/or grandchildren, creating a wonderful legacy.”
The program’s mission places an emphasis on excellence and teamwork. Schrenker lauds the amazing team of instructors who make the building experience unforgettable. “Each of the seasoned instructors brings their own expertise to the workbench, with an emphasis on preserving the knowledge from one generation of instrument builders and passing this knowledge to the next generation of instrument builders. On the first day, Sunday afternoon, everyone is quiet and rather isolated, but by Friday afternoon, we are family. The days can be long, interspersed with wonderful home-cooked meals and the fellowship in getting to know each other…it is a week that brings a diverse group of individuals together with one common passion: to build a guitar. Don and Gerald’s job was helping Wayne gather together what they all would need in a “workshop space” that had little equipment for a workshop. In fact, Don, Gerald, and Wayne basically packed up their own shops and brought them over to The Henderson so we could actually host our first workshop. This first workshop ended up happening in November 2016, and took all of five minutes to fill. I was over at Wayne’s for a gathering, and Don announced, pointing at me… “Here’s the boss, only six spots-$1000 deposit, get out your checkbook.”
The three masters of Luthierie carried in their own shop equipment and helped Schrenker establish a Luthierie that had all the equipment and supplies needed, and also had the very best equipment, an excellent choice of tone wood, and all supplies on hand so that any instructor could just simply walk in and start building a fine instrument from scratch. “It took time and a lot of patience. Gerald Anderson was my cavalry. I slowly started to learn about the tools, jigs, pieces, and parts, and Gerald never made me feel small or stupid…he was patient and thorough in his teaching.”
You can see these values reflected in Spencer Strickland, Josh Reese, and Marty Howard. When Gerald passed, I felt a tremendous loss, as so many of us did…my education thwarted (as corny as it sounds)…BUT this team, these wonderful humans, picked up where Gerald left off, again honoring that legacy of carrying on the tradition of instrument building. All three of them insisting that I build my own guitar so I would understand the instrument (and the tools needed to craft it)—inside and out. You can hear them during our workshops: “Now Wayne does this, Gerald did it this way, this is how I do it.” That sums up what The Henderson is all about. The magic that has become our guitar-building experience is in part because we all like each other, we respect each other’s contribution to the experience as a whole, and this is communicated throughout the week-long workshop. There is magic in the process, there is magic in the instrument, but the sweet spot is in the friendships we build along the way.”
Schrenker also teaches graphic design as an adjunct professor at Emory & Henry University, and students are learning about the Gestalt Theory of Design: “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” which defines the magic that is the guitar-building experience at The Wayne C. Henderson School of Appalachian Arts. She represented the program at IBMA in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 2025.
Spencer Strickland- Most people who know Strickland already know that Gerald Anderson is the primary reason he builds instruments today. He and Anderson worked together and played music all around the world for over fifteen years prior to Anderson’s passing.
In 2016, Gerald—along with Wayne Henderson and Don Wilson—taught the first guitar building class in what is now the Gerald Anderson Luthierie Studio at the Henderson School. Strickland was not present for the “build week” part of the class that year due to being on tour with the band he played with at the time, but he did do the finish work on the guitars back in his shop in Lambsburg, Virginia. The following year, his music schedule allowed him to help with the “build week” part of the class that took place in November 2017, and he has not missed a class since.
According to Strickland, “Following Gerald’s passing in the summer of 2019, I was asked by Catherine to assume the role that Gerald had previously held at the school for the upcoming November class that was already scheduled and full of students. At the time, Gerald was really the master mind behind putting the class together and gathering all the materials necessary to help six strangers build themselves each a guitar in five and a half days. This job now fell on the shoulders of “the team,” which consisted of Catherine, and my dear friends and fellow instructors Marty Howard and Josh Reese, who were both already involved with the program.” Schrenker stepped up to the plate after Gerald’s passing and took it upon herself to learn all the parts and pieces of a guitar and where to order them from. There’s not a piece that goes into a guitar that she doesn’t know about these days, and she could also tell you several good sources to buy them from. Wayne Henderson was still very much a part of the November 2019 class, as well as the March 2020 class, which finished up right as the country was beginning to shut down due to the COVID-19 virus.
Marty Howard, Josh Reese, and myself continued on teaching the classes that followed the “post-COVID” era without Wayne, due to the health risk being a bit greater for him than it was for the rest of us. Later on, Wayne did start coming around and “checking in” on us to make sure we were still doing things right after the world was beginning to show signs of normalcy again.
We offer two styles of guitars at the class currently. Dreadnaught, or OM/000 styles. We always have plenty of nice Indian Rosewood and Honduran or African Mahogany on hand for the students to pick, but on occasion, we may have a few other exotic choices for anyone wanting something a bit more off the beaten path. When students arrive at the class on Sunday afternoon for “day one,” we don’t waste too much time with introductions and small talk; rather, we dive right into bending sides and thinning down tops and backs.
To date, there have been at least twenty-one classes and one hundred guitars that were made from our classes held at the school. It has been such a rewarding experience for me to be a part of The Henderson School. It is a very special place, and I am honored to get to share this journey with some of my dearest friends, who also loved and meant the world to Gerald.” (Bluegrass lovers can see Strickland playing his Anderson mandolin, with his bandmates in Caroline Owens, and New Company, who plays a Strickland guitar, with her first name inlaid on the fingerboard of the orchestra model guitar.)
Martin Howard, owner of Howard Handcraft LLC, is a retired machinist by trade, with his son being a professional mandolin player who plays an Anderson F-5 mandolin purchased in 2012. The family spent an entire day at Elderly Instruments in Michigan, with his son playing everything they had. He kept gravitating back to a well-worn “Anderson” F model. Howard’s specialty is building fixtures and jigs. Coming from a production environment, he easily envisions streamlined ways of making just about anything. One of the best compliments ever given to him was “Marty can build the part that makes the part.”
Howard, not being a musician himself, had no idea who Gerald Anderson or Wayne Henderson were. Howards recalls, “Although I can’t remember the final price, I went ahead and purchased it. In the meantime, I contacted Gerald to see if he was still building. He said he was, and we agreed to meet. He went over the mandolin, and we ordered a new one at the same time. By the time we had left Gerald’s, it felt like I had known him forever.
That was February 2012. So, through that one mandolin, we have had the privilege of meeting some very special people. In my wildest dreams, I can’t believe the connections and friendships that were made, and are still being made.
My son Jake and I took a guitar-building class together in 2013 in Tryon, North Carolina, that Gerald and Spencer taught. It was a ten-day guitar-building boot camp. After ten days, the guitar was finished, strung up, and ready to go. Being a machinist, building was second nature to me, and I got the “bug.” Wood to me is just softer metal. And in 2014, we travelled down to that class again, but this time it was just to help. This is where we met Josh Reese, who was taking the class. After Gerald’s passing in 2019, I was asked by Spencer to take Gerald’s place. Not so much replacing Gerald, as no one could, but to be the third instructor. It has been a great ride, not necessarily from the build-only standpoint, but meeting people from all facets of life and together building a heirloom instrument with them; one that they get to cherish or, as some do, give to their children, grandchildren, or a loved one.
The most challenging part for me is well…We get a smorgasbord of people who take the class. Some with extended woodworking experience, and those with limited or no woodworking experience. Yet after the class is all said and done, all leave with a guitar they had their hands in building.
After six years as an instructor, Howard recalls a great compliment from Henderson. “He said, “You all are making some great guitars out of the School.”
Josh Reese is the owner of Moss Ridge Guitars in Mars Hill, North Carolina, and also one of the instructors at the Henderson School for the guitar build workshops. He instructs in the build portion and also serves as the inlay instructor. Reese is a third-generation musician on both sides of his family. Reese informs, “My Pa-paw on my dad’s side was a fiddle player, and my dad played banjo and guitar. My Pa-paw on my mom’s side (Moss) played guitar and bass. My Ma-maw played piano, Mom played piano, bass, autoharp, and guitar, and they all sang very well. I grew up on bluegrass, fiddle tunes, and a lot of gospel. My grandparents, mom, and aunt also had a singing group that traveled all over Western North Carolina and East Tennessee, performing at church singings regularly when I was growing up. When we weren’t doing that, there was always music at home every day or a bluegrass pickin’ to attend on the weekends. My dad also played regularly. Pa-paw Moss would always have his annual “pickin’ in the holler,” which would draw quite a crowd. It’s just the way I grew up. I also had a fondness for woodworking with my Pa-paw Moss too. It was something we always enjoyed doing together.
“One day, a friend of mine told me about a class where you could build your own guitar. Obviously, with my love of guitars and woodworking, I jumped at the chance. I had my first luthier experience by taking one of Gerald’s classes at the Tryon Arts and Crafts School in Tryon, North Carolina, in 2014. It was an amazing experience! This is where I first met Gerald, Spencer, and Marty. I fell in love with the process of building guitars! It was definitely one of those life-changing experiences!
“During the class, we had the opportunity to choose an inlay design for our headstock to make it personal. I already had an idea of what it would be, Moss Ridge. I would name it in honor of my Pa-paw and the place I grew up and learned to play guitar. Gerald kind of chuckled and smiled when I told him my idea of putting Moss Ridge in single letters in an arc across the top. I didn’t quite understand why that would be so difficult until I tried cutting pearl and inlaying for the first time. I soon realized how impossible that would have been!! I found a font I liked and merged an M and an R together into one shape, and Gerald agreed to let me try it. I took to the inlay process right away and really enjoyed it. Gerald was surprised by how good my first inlay came out, and he was very complimentary. Little did I know at the time that this would lead to something very special.
“The rest of the class was amazing, and the guitars turned out great! I kept in touch with Gerald and we struck up a friendship. He invited me up to his shop in Troutdale for a visit. While there, he offered me the chance to apprentice under him and to start doing his inlay work. I agreed, and I honestly couldn’t imagine how much my life would change after that. Gerald became family and one of the very best friends I have ever had. He was a wonderful mentor and big brother. Any free time we had, we were usually together. I was very blessed to have him in my life, and I’m so thankful for all the opportunities I have had because of him. Gerald and I would spend a lot of time at Wayne’s shop since he lived so close, and I can’t even begin to explain how special that time in my life was.
“After a few months of traveling there to learn and build, we finally started setting up a proper guitar shop at my house. I could do more work from home, and Gerald could also work on projects when he came down here to visit. Moss Ridge Guitars was officially born. I still build out of the shop Gerald helped me start. You can see more of Moss Ridge Guitars’ content on social media. I have been blessed to have made two guitars for Grand Ole Opry member Mark Wills, and he just ordered a third. I also have a few other guitars headed to Nashville for other artists in the near future.”
The next few years saw Reese help with the classes Gerald would teach in Tryon. It was a full circle moment for him, and doing Gerald’s inlay, he became the inlay guy for the classes. In 2016, they had the first class at the Henderson School. This class was mainly led by Wayne, Gerald, and Don. Reese was able to go for a couple of days just to help out with odds and ends, but wasn’t there as a primary instructor. After the initial class, Henderson wasn’t as active as an instructor, and Gerald took the lead role. Strickland and Reese fell right back in their instructor roles, with Reese as the inlay guy.
The next few classes went very well, and Schrenker wanted to increase the classes from one class a year to two because of the popularity. Reese notes, “Each class had its own magic. There is just something about getting a group of guitar lovers together for a week of building their dream guitar. All the world’s problems just kind of seem to go away for a little while. By the end of the build week, everyone is tired from the long hours, but it’s a good kind of tired. Everyone has a sense of accomplishment and family. After the reconvene a couple of months later, the students get to hear their guitars make music for the first time. It is such a special moment when they strum those new instruments for the first time. It sounds cliché, but it really is magic. We have now had multiple people take the class more than once, so I think that speaks volumes about our program. We lost our dear friend Gerald in 2019, and honestly, the world just hasn’t been the same since. We carry on his legacy and honor him by continuing to teach the craft he loved so much. Marty was always helping with classes, but he came on as a full-time instructor after Gerald’s passing, and Spencer moved into the lead instructor role. Since then, we now offer three classes per year, and each class has its own special vibe. It’s something that’s hard to describe. It’s something you really just have to experience. I am truly blessed that I get the opportunity to teach with the brothers that I would have never known if it hadn’t been for Gerald. We all hung out in Gerald’s shop together for years, so I’m glad we get to honor him and continue his legacy together.”
Reese notes that there are challenges in the program, especially getting the students to agree on an inlay that can be done in the time allotted in class. “It always brings a smile to my face when someone presents an idea that I know we could never do because it would be too complex. I always see that little chuckle and smile Gerald gave me the first time I did that. That used to be me! But just like me back then, you just don’t know what you don’t know. The students always end up with a great inlay, and just like me, figure out quickly why their original idea would have never worked. It’s also a little difficult at times making sure the students are managing their time properly between build and inlay so they do not get behind on their build, but it always seems to work out great.”
The Henderson School, Gerald Anderson Luthierie—The Future
With its obvious popularity and success, the program will continue to flourish and offer more classes. Periodically, the program conducts a raffle of a guitar made by a student, with the assistance of the luthiers. Readers should keep an eye out for these raffles and others. Proceeds from raffles are deposited in the program budget to meet current and expanding needs.
