Skipper Custom Instruments - The Builder

Other Interests

Besides being a custom instrument builder, Roger is also both an active bluegrass musician and a published author. He’s a regular attendee of festivals and events in western Maryland and surrounding states, where his instruments can be heard in any number of parking lot jam sessions, and where his band Crosscut makes an occasional stage appearance. If you’re going to be in the area, contact us, and maybe we can get together and make some music.

Roger’s three published novels, Tear Down the Mountain: An Appalachian Love Story, The Baptism of Billy Bean, and Bone Dogs are available at online vendors and at bookstores everywhere. Please buy his books so he can afford to keep building instruments! Besides that, you'll like 'em -- they're true redneck literature.

Roger is also a contributing editor for American Lutherie magazine, the premier magazine for instrument builders worldwide. There you can find articles and interviews he's either written or edited.

Ginseng season comes in on September 1, and for the next week or so Roger will be searching for his roots in multiple ways. He won’t accomplish much in that time, but he’ll return to work refreshed and more productive than ever.