Meet Your Luthier Carl!

Carl has been repairing and modifying guitars for the last 25 years and building custom guitars for the last 15 years. Some of his custom built guitars have been played in professional recording studios (Fat Cat Recording) and on stages in front of thousands of fans (Shoreline Amphitheater). Carl is mostly self taught when it comes to building and repairing electric & acoustic guitars. He has also taken acoustic guitar building classes with Al Caldrone of ARC guitars as well as a guitar building course with Perry Vasquez of Santa Cruz guitars. Carl has also completed online building and repair courses from Robert O’Brien, Kent Everett and Michael Bashkin to name just a few. Carl currently enjoys building Fender style electric guitars and is a member of the Guild of American Luthiers.

Carl grew up with music all around him. Both of his grandparents were avid musicians. His father, David Chalmers, was a professional guitarist & musician who has played with the likes of Tom Petty and Journey. Carl began playing guitar at the age of 15 in his father’s professional recording studio The Sound Workshop. At the age of 16 Carl started working at Vl laboratories soldering and assembling T1 test equipment. Later that year Carl swapped out the pickups in his first guitar, a white Squier Fender Strat. At 17 Carl began hanging out at Son Father Guitars in Rockiln Ca. At this point it was then he knew he wanted to devote his life’s work to the guitar in one way or another. It’s been a long bumpy road and a labor of LOVE! Some of Carl’s favorite bands are the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Smashing Pumpkins and Jimi Hendrix. Carl loves working on vintage Fender and Martin guitars amongst many others.

Chalmers Guitars is a home based workshop. I like my guitars to be just as comfortable as I am. Guitars are my life. I’ve owned hundreds of guitars over the years. Many vintage Fenders have been bought and sold on Reverb and eBay in the name of R&D.

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