Master craftsman Ed Elliott

Ed Elliott of Stigler makes guitars, and a couple of the top musicians nationally play his instruments. By BEVERLY BASDEN, FOR THE OKLAHOMAN

Dreams of note
Craftsman creates custom electric guitars, mandolins and basses.

By Sharon Johnson
State Correspondent

STIGLER — Master craftsman Ed Elliott is pursing his lifelong dream in Stigler.

After years of creating instruments with the well known Mosrite and Music Man brands, Elliott decided to strike out on his own and make instruments bearing his own brand name, "E.F. Elliott.”

Far from the glamour and glitter enjoyed by many of his customers, Elliott, 49, makes and custom designs electric guitars, mandolins and basses in the Haskell County town of fewer than 3,000 people.

Elliott's handmade electric guitars and mandolins have found their way into the hands of such famous performers as Dixie Chicks' fiddler/singer Martie (Seidel) McGuire and Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson.

He finishes about one guitar a week now, but hopes someday employees will help him produce 40 to 50 instruments per month.

"I build some of the finest retro-designed surf and rockabilly style electric guitars and about the coolest little electric mandolin found anywhere,” he said. "An electric mandolin is kind of an oddity, but I don't do acoustic instruments of any kind. I call my mandolins the D.C. (Dixie Chick) Custom.”

Early disassembly

While most young boys Elliott's age were out playing baseball on sunny days in Bakersfield, Calif., he was taking guitars apart piece by piece and figuring out ways to make them look and sound better.

It was a hobby his father encouraged, even when young Elliott took apart the first guitar given to him by his father.

"I can still remember it, 'cause we got it at the Woolworth's Department Store and it cost a whoppin' $19,” Elliott said. "It was for my 8th birthday, but I think Dad was just tired of me using his all the time.”

Guitar garage

Elliott became so skilled at making modifications and refurbishing stringed instruments that, by age 12, customers were seeking his services.

He began hand-making complete guitars in the family's garage. At age 15, Elliott opened a custom guitar shop in Taft, Calif., and by 19 he was working for famous guitar maker Semie Mosely. Elliott went on to make the Music Man guitar for Ernie Ball.

Elliott and his wife, Mary, moved to Oklahoma nine years ago. He knocked the walls out of an old mobile home in their back yard to create a shop. It was while there that Elliott put his first mandolin on eBay and caught the attention of the music director for the Dixie Chicks.

"He kept e-mailing me and telling me he wanted it for the Dixie Chicks and I was thinking, ‘Yeah, Yeah,' but he sent the bid to Martie and she said buy it. They Fed-Exed me a check the next day,” he said.

Elliott received about $1,000 for the mandolin that is played in the video "Goodbye Earl.” Today, he gets about $2,500 for a similar instrument.

Refurbished shop

Elliott needed something more than the makeshift shop he was working in, however, if he was to pursue his dream.

With the help of small-business experts at Kiamichi Technology Center in Stigler, Elliott found the perfect building, although it may not have appeared that way at first glance. With weeds and grass growing up to the windowsills of mostly broken windows, the only available business incubator in town looked more ready for a bulldozer than a budding new business.

"It had what I needed, though, even down to the industrial wiring for my machinery,” he said. "We've replaced the windows and done a lot of work on it. I don't think it's bad at all now.”

Elliott's day begins at 2:30 a.m. when he gets up and drives to his shop for a couple of hours. By 6 a.m., he is at work at Rosewood Industries, a local manufacturing company, where Elliott does menial jobs, he said.

He returns to his shop about 3 p.m. and works until 6:30 to 7 p.m. before returning home.

"Quality is the key,” Elliott said as the rich sound of his latest creation comes to life under his skilled fingers. "I'm always trying to find ways to make the instruments better.”