Kostal Guitars

Jason Kostal didn't come to lutherie young. He grew up studying fingerstyle at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, then became a US Army officer, then earned an MBA at Emory in Atlanta — where, on the side, he met Kent Everett of Everett Guitars and got his first introduction to building. After the military he took a Fortune 500 management job in Salt Lake City, kept building on the side, and eventually walked away from the corporate world for Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix. He stayed on as an assistant instructor in the acoustic program for three and a half years after graduating, teaching while opening his own shop and building the first Kostal Guitars. In November 2008 he attended Ervin Somogyi's voicing class, and Ervin offered him an apprenticeship that started the following February. He closed his Phoenix shop, moved to Oakland, and spent thirty months building under Somogyi's tutelage.