Who the heck is Pete Barthell?

I was born several decades after the civil war, and spent my working life in the northern suburbs of Chicago. My training is as an engineer. I started building guitars in 1976 and am self taught, with minor assists from Irving Sloane and Robert Ruck.

I live in the little town of Sequim on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. Sequim should really be spelled Skwim, because that’s the way it’s pronounced. It’s an ancient Indian word meaning, “No, you cannot have any more Dr. Pepper.”