Douglas Naselroad

Artist Biography

A resident of Winchester in Clark County, Kentucky, Douglas Naselroad is a luthier who has been practicing professionally since 1969. The craft of building stringed instruments including guitars, fiddles, and mandolins, luthiery and its practitioners have been an essential piece to Appalachia’s folklife and musical culture for centuries. Naselroad’s connection to Kentucky’s luthiery tradition goes as far back at the early 19th Century when his ancestor Ely Boggs reportedly built the first dulcimer ever made in the Bluegrass state. Continuing in his great-great-great-great-grandfather’s footsteps, Naselroad made his first guitar at 16. It was for a girl. “It played,” remembers Naselroad. “Somewhat.”

After gaining inspiration from (and eventually taking over the repair shop of) Nick Kuckich in Michigan, Naselroad returned to his hometown of Mount Sterling, Kentucky in 1979 to open up his own shop. Including a stint working at Collings Guitars in Austin, Texas, Naselroad has built countless guitars, mandolins, dulcimers, harps and other forms, for clients including Steve Miller, Lyle Lovett, and John Prine. In 2017, the Kentucky Folklife Program celebrated Naselroad’s legacy by awarding him the Homer Ledford Award.

Much like his mentor Ledford, Naselroad’s contributions to luthiery have included both his making and his teaching. He founded the Appalachian School of Luthiery in Hindman, and as part of the team led by Appalachian Artisan Center’s executive director Jessica Evans, helped developed her “Culture of Recovery” program, through which he teaches luthiery to individuals recovering from substance abuse. Through major funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER grant program, Naselroad’s Troublesome Creek Stringed Instrument Company will build guitars and other traditional instruments in Hindman for national distribution and sale.

Through the support of Folk and Traditional Arts Master Artist Fellowship, Naselroad will attend the 2019 Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans Symposium in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.