Allen Resophonic Guitars

Randy Allen Biography

Randy got into repairing back in his mid-twenties when he had sent his own guitar to someone else to repair and it had come back without being much better than it was before. So he carefully (and with some trepidation) did the work over, and in the process, discovered that he seemed to have a natural flair for understanding the construction of acoustic instruments. Ironically, the first guitar Randy built from scratch was a solid-body electric guitar, which, he said, wasn't as much fun, but it was a custom order for someone else, so he built it to specifications.

Soon friends began asking him to do increasing amounts of minor set-up and repair work and he felt more and more confidence in his developing skills in building instruments. With the aid of a couple of instruction books he was able to build his first guitar.

For a number of years Randy divided his energies, doing some instrument making and repairing, but hanging on to day jobs in the construction field, for a reliable paycheck. He did cabinet making, spec-building, store-fixtures and other such ubiquitous work.

After a few long discussions with his wife, Randy decided that it was time to go full-blast into the luthier business in 1993. Randy has advance orders for his instruments and ships them all around the world. Besides guitars, Randy also has been making resophonic guitars and mandolins. He has also started a luthier supply business supplying woods and a fret slotting service to other builders.

Artists who play Allen: Jesse Brock, Kathy Barwick, Ethan Anderson, Buck Owens, Jason Robertson, Massimo Gatti