Guitar Making
Troutdale, VA
Photo: Pat Jarrett/Virginia Humanities
Lisa Ring was born and raised on her family’s farm in Grayson County, where she lives today. Ring remembers family visits always included music, her relatives on her mother’s side were nearly all musicians. Her grandfather and his brothers played fiddle, her great aunt played autoharp and her great-grandmother played the dulcimer. Ring’s mother did not learn to play, but she knew how deeply important music was to the family, going so far as to track down her father’s fiddle after learning he loaned it out when he fell too ill to play. Ring remembers seeing that fiddle as a young girl in her mother’s dresser drawer. After encouraging her to learn piano and guitar, her mother gave Ring the family fiddle when she turned 18. Ring went on to connect with Hick Edmonds, a neighbor of her grandparents, who learned how to play fiddle from her grandfather. While she did not learn from her grandfather directly, his teaching made its way to Ring through Edmonds.
Ring began working on instruments out of curiosity and the hunch she could do it. She was artistic and she had access to her father’s woodshop. Her friendship with legendary guitar builder Wayne Henderson led to an informal apprenticeship. She began making guitars—she’s made eleven so far—and doing repair work on the side. After taking a multi-year hiatus from music and guitar building, Ring received support from the Virginia Folklife Program in 2019-2020 to apprentice with Emily Spencer in clawhammer banjo. Spencer taught traditional string band at Grayson Highlands School at the time and Ring began doing the instrument repairs for the school, which helped her return to guitar building. Ring still repairs the school’s instruments pro-bono and she and Spencer continue a learning exchange today, with Ring teaching Spencer instrument repair. Ring will be in the Instrument Makers Workshop in the Virginia Folklife Area on Saturday and Sunday and playing in the Instrument Makers Jam on the Center for Cultural Vibrancy Virginia Folklife Stage on Sunday.