I’ve been making guitars since 1991, and mine is likely to be similar to other roads.

As a child, at some point you begin to like music, and eventually fall in love with it. Then you want to play it yourself, and your further step is an itch to rebuild your guitar – since you are the smartest and know best (not to mention that Dad’s fingers would also be itching and he’d managed to get a plane, a chisel, a grinder, and 3 drill bits).

You rebuild it over and over again and it’s clear the matter can’t rest there.

Your school, institute, and daily job run parallel – quite a routine. But your hands remain nervous though. Here and there, you come across some magazines, classy rare guitars, and the dream gets stronger.

So, you settle down to making, of course, becoming a pain in the ass for all friends of yours: someone brings the machine heads, somebody gives the pickups, some guy makes the bridge so that some other guy can get it plated. That’s the way the rookie crumbles.

In the long run, you are finished. Phew! (1992)

You wander around the city, show your guitar off, get pictured, show off again, hit the booze – in other words, you enjoy yourself. And all of a sudden mankind strikes you with its quirk – your guitar sells! The shit hits the fan. A real point of no return. Your education and good old engineer job are screwed up. Just repairs, electric axes and bass guitars.

In 2002 Kibin Guitars is officially formed and I start my professional guitarbuilding career, i. e. full-time. My friend Alex in the US mails the holy bible of all acoustic luthiers, Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology by William Cumpiano and Jonathan D. Natelson.

Mother Nature is known to play cruel jokes, and fools and noobs are traditionally lucky. Long story short, my first classical guitar was a blast (2003).

It’s obvious I considered myself Mr. Smarty Pants when proceeding to my second classical guitar - and no wonder I’ve never had that feeling back. Instead, I gained all through blood, sweat and tears. No one ever repealed experience, and you have to earn it – by studying, learning, listening and making.

In 2005 I bought out the premises of my current workshop.

In 2011 I was the first luthier from the post-Soviet countries to attend Musikmesse as an exhibitor bringing my guitars.

Today I own a nice workshop with numerous machines and a stock of wood to survive a sudden loss of India.

All the guitars coming from the shop are handmade, yet reasonably priced.

Looks like that’s it for now – talk to the artists for more.

Andrei Kibin