With an eclectic taste in music and artists, Steve started modifying his own guitars in High School in search of different playing feel and sounds.  His natural mechanical and technical skills soon found him working on the instruments of friends to help them play and sound better.  This sparked a desire to learn how to develop this passion further.

After studying business in college, Steve attended the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery. The guitars he crafted at Roberto-Venn were a single cutaway archtop electric with self-wound pickups and a dreadnought single cutaway 12 string acoustic.

During Luthiery school, a classmate who was already an accomplished woodworker, noticed Steve’s tool skills and attention to detail and encouraged him to consider studying custom furniture design & construction to further develop his skill set.  

Steve used his recently crafted guitars to apply and was accepted to apprentice with David Powel, a European master furniture maker, at The Leeds Design Workshops. All manner of challenging woodworking and finishing processes became a life passion through his career as a luthier, custom cabinetmaker, commercial/residential builder and historic building renovator/restorer.

As Steve's luthiery work increased his interest in working on buildings was waning. Steve added Rosewood Guitar Setup & Repair as a division of Rosewood Design & Construction to seamlessly connect his attention to detail, skills, shop tools and love of fine woodworking as well as all things technical to his love of guitars and passion for music.

Reconnecting with luthiery full time has renewed the sparkle music so often adds to ones life. As Plato said "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything."  Supporting that idea by caring for instruments ​will always inspire a smile.