Ryan joined Thompson guitar crew over a year ago in the set-up department. He started playing guitar in high school and is a Northwest native from Gaston, Oregon. After working in several different fields, he decided that his love of music and woodworking was where he wanted to concentrate his talents and took the path of becoming a luthier. He chose to start his training with a few classes at the American School of Luthier with Charles Fox. After realizing that this was his true calling, he saved up the funds to go to the Galloup School of Guitar Building for an intensive master’s program.
His love of details and fine woodworking are the perfect combination for our set-up room with the level of attention we give to each of our guitars. He is an accomplished finger-style player adding to his ability to hear tone and nuances as he completes the final processes in string-up.
We are very happy to have him onboard and it is funny how things work out because initially we wanted to hire him but unfortunately, he had a car accident and had to decline our first offer. Recently we reconnected, and he was able to start even though there was a pandemic looming. We are happy to have him employed and he is now based in Central Oregon.