About mercury Lab Guitars

Why I started building guitars

Why I reach out to lefty players

It started out on a whim… It immediately turned into a passion…

In 2014, I fronted a band called, The Parishioners.  We released a CD that was funded by the Threadhead Cultural Foundation here in New Orleans.  The work received pretty strong reviews. We were nominated for best roots rock album of the year, best song, and we made the list of top 50 recordings of the year by Offbeat magazine.

Then I had an accident.  Stupid, really.  I fell off a tow truck while loading my broken down “59 Edsel.  I cracked three ribs and dislocated three fingers. I lost my ability to play standard tuning guitar, thus losing everything the band worked so hard to achieve.  It wasn’t easy…

But, my fiddle player left me an old Dobro when he moved out of the city.  It was clunky. High action.  It didn’t really have good resonance, and it had a cut out made for right handed players.  The problem is, I am a lefty.  I kept staring at it for a year and a half. It aggravated me.

This is where the “whim” part comes in.

I woke up one morning and said to myself, “I am going to make my own damn guitar and learn how to play slide!”

I went to my friend’s music store to see what parts he had.  He handed me a spider bridge, cone and cover.  That’s all it took…

Playing it is still a work in progress, but I did a pretty good job in making the first guitar. And, as a metal worker and fabricator, I fell in love with the process.  So, here we are… Mercury Lab Guitars. You can even see one in the National Guitar Museum’s traveling show...

As far as this call to left-handed players goes, my main business is, of course, made up of right-handed players. I obviously wouldn’t make much of a living if I stayed exclusive to making resonator guitars for southpaws.

But, as every leftie knows, it is difficult growing up not being able to play your friends’ instruments. When you walk into almost any music store, you find little to no selection to try out. And, on the rare occasion you do find a guitar or two, you find the price is marked up as a stocking fee.

Thus, I try to get the message out that there is a builder for those who think with the other side of the brain (that part is still up for scientific debate). I even go so far as giving discounts on direct sales for left-handed players.

But all musicians are important and I am always honored when you choose one of my guitars…

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