What heartbreaking news... Hard to believe, harder to imagine. Tom was a Master luthier, but still a young guy, with enormous promise and potential for a long, legendary career in lutherie.
I met Tom at several of the Healdsburg shows, and had some quality hang time with him at the Memphis show in 2015. We had some custom build clients in common, so we had plenty to talk about. Despite his brilliant skills and the invariably world-class tone of his immaculately constructed and perfectly elegant guitars, Tom was a humble, unassuming guy, and obviously just a genuinely decent and kind human being.
What are we going to do without Tom?
It's a small and insufficient condolence, but he did make a lot of very special guitars. The History of his instruments is just beginning. So we'll be hearing the name Tom Doerr for a long, long time, and we'll be hearing the sound of his voice in every one of his creations. He put a big footprint down on this Earth, and he will be remembered forever by all the people whose lives he made more joyous and musical with his wonderful guitars.
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