Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Welker Guitars


Fred Welker lived a quiet life here in Nashville. He was a true artist in wood and made some of Nashville's best guitars. Fred actually could not play guitar but loved when people would come by the shop that could. I loved visiting and talking with him. He always had such interesting stories of places he had been during his 80 years of life. 
I had the privilege of meeting Fred about 8 years ago. I made it a regular thing visiting his shop to see what he had going on. He once told me he had 100 more years of work lined up. He had so much talent. On one visit he was making arched top church windows that were 15 feet tall. Another visit he was making bamboo fly rods, sometimes model planes, and of coarse guitars. I loved playing those guitars. I'll miss afternoon coffee with Fred and his great stories.
He passed away last month but his work will live forever here in music city.


3 comments:

  1. Thank you for your post about Fred. I knew him when I lived in Nashville in 2000. I was a stained glass artist and worked across the street from him. He made a few frames for me for custom works. I enjoyed dropping by to see him after work and sharing stories. Guitars were his life and he took great pride in his craftsmanship. I will always have fond memories of Fred. Paula Forget

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  2. Thank you for the nice words about Fred. I've been trying to find if he passed. Last time I got to see him was when he was moving out of his shop and I had no way of contacting him, so I wasn't sure if he had. Now I know... Deeply saddened. I use to build guitars with Fred for a couple years and he always treated me well and I learned a lot from him. He was very talented. Again, thanks for the info and nice words about him. Thanks. BM

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