Now, on to the Introductions...
I'm Greg Monroe, of G.S.Monroe Folk Instruments ( a new start venture ).
I have been doing wood crafts as a hobby for many years, mainly lathe turning, cabinetry, and artistic sculpture using dremil tools.
When I became long term unemployed in 2010 I started looking into Folk Instrument building as a way employ myself using my existing talents and available wood shop. The wood shop by the way is a third generation family thing, started by my Grandfather shortly after WWII. It passed to my father, and now I spend most of my time there.
The folk instruments that I build include Cigar Box Guitars, Mountain Dulcimers, Strum Stick Dulcimers, Fiddles (flat top box violins), Mandolins, Tahitian Banjo Ukuleles, and a variety of Tiples.
I'm self-educated as a luthier, and spent many hours reading forums like this one, watching YouTube videos, and personal trial and error.
I have access to a number of private sawmills in central Florida (where I live), and work primarily in locally available hardwoods. My preferred tone wood is recovered Gulf Coast Bald Cypress ( Taxodium distichum ), which is a close relative to many other notable tone woods. I also have available walnut, pecan, hickory, cherry laural, chinaberry (a variety of mahogany), and a selection of figurative water & live oaks.
My most recent project is a "Studio" slimline acoustic guitar, meant for sound studio and stage performance. I call it a "studio" because it has no sound holes to reduce feedback from monitors, and unplugged it doesn't have to be a loud, so you can practice while wearing headphones and not disturb the neighbors. You can find a sound check video on YouTube by searching (watch?v=bwaqp6TyAUU).
Here are some pictures
