CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QC Life) - It took moving halfway around the world and a lot of math for one man to discover his true passion of guitar making.
Now he’s turned that passion into a career.
Guitar music coming from inside a business in Denver could have more likely been an adding machine if Franklin Linker had started the business a decade ago.
Playing the guitar started out as just a hobby in the MTV era.
“I started playing guitar, I think, around the age of 13. And it spanned from watching the Tears For Fears video actually,” Linker said.
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The teen guitar player went on to become an accountant. His career took him and his wife to Israel. He still played guitar as a hobby. However, a newspaper article changed everything.
Fast forward a year, and not only could he repair a guitar, he made one. Soon, people were coming to him for repairs and custom builds. Linker crunched the numbers and decided to make the leap.
He landed a job with a guitar manufacturer and they moved back to the states. Instead of an accounting firm, he opened Linker Guitars. Now, he spends his days handcrafting these beautiful instruments.
“I kind can get lost in it. You know, just shaping wood, sanding it, and envisioning what it might be is a wonderful feeling in itself,” he said.
As amazing as the guitars are that he builds, he gets just as much out of bringing other people’s guitars back to life.
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“I get a lot of joy from the customers and seeing that even small things can make a difference and it might even keep them going on with playing,” Linker said.
The word is spreading about the skill and care he puts into his work.
“Every year it’s just slowly built and built and built. So it’s been, it’s been a great experience,” he said.
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