Jay Rhynes Last Guitar
 

Jay Rhyne was a legendary North Georgia Luthier who worked from the 1960s up until a debilitating stroke in 2001. He died this summer. Over his life, he built about 700 instruments of all kinds, many customs for well known musicians. We have two of his -- both BRW dreads. One was built about 1990 and the other, with a tree of life, was finished in 2001.

The BRW sets came from Mike Longworth of Martin fame -- old growth BRW it get from Martin in the 1960s.

Jay was a dear friend of ours, and did much of our work on vintage guitars. He was an amazing craftsman and an amazing character.

http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~barnwell/rhyne.jpg

http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~barnwell/Rhynes.jpg

Best,

-Tom

He WAS an amazing craftsman.
Jay was the fellow who first influenced me, and convinced me that guitars could be built by an individual and not (necessarily) a factory.
He was doing world-class work in the early 70's, and no doubt inspired many future luthiers. He will be missed!

Steve

I know this is an old thread. Jay was married to my cousin here in Michigan. I have a photo of him my mother took of him playing a J-45, this would have been around 1960. I still talk with his daughter, my cousin, all the time. She looks just like Jay.

I knew Jay and like my brother, was enfluenced by his work when he had a shop in Atlanta. In later years he began making flintlock and other rifles and predictably his rifles were works of art. My brother and I would hang around his guitar shop soaking up the ambiance and inhaling the lacquer fumes and getting a lifetimes worth of inspiration. (There might be a pun there)

He and my cousin (much older than me) divorced in the 60's and he moved to GA and they really heard very little from him. My cousin that he was married to was a stunning beauty.
As a player, I've always wanted to see pics of his work. I know he was a legend, If I come across that photo of him I'll post it.