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Welcome to Jim Hilburns Mandolin Website. I first fell in love with the mandolin when in 1970 by chance, I moved in next door to a group of acoustic pickers playing jugband fiddle tunes, and bluegrass. Through them, I met many others in the Boulder-Denver acoustic scene. A couple of them had built their own mandos, and I was hooked.
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But before I could get started, I needed a mandolin, and in 1974, I heard Ome Banjos had started building mandolins. I went to their shop to check it out, and met Mike Kemnitzer, who was the house mandolin builder.I bought Ome #2, a killer mandolin, and one of the first Nuggets.
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When I finally got it together to build my first mandolin, I looked up Mike, and had him do the finish, since I had no finishing equipment. I got a chance to pick his brain and he was very helpful about his techniques,such as dovetailing, binding installation, and finishing. I built 3 "F"s, then went on to build a number of electric guitars, basses, and an acoustic guitar and bass. But I knew I would return to the mandolin, and in 1998, built myself another "F". My good friend, Drew Horton liked it so much, he comissioned me to make one for him. In exchange, he built a new shop for me!His mandolin, "The Drew", has a beautiful sound, and Drew entered the 2001 Winfield contest, and won! Since then, Drew has purchased his second mandolin.
I've updated this site with some new photo's. It's July 2005 and I'm about to finish #35.
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