Paul Graybeal

Paul was born in the Creston community in Ashe County on October 19, 1935, and over the years he has developed his instrument building and repairing skills making nearly 100 guitars, 50 mandolins, a number of dulcimers, a banjo, and many miniature instruments. Paul is also an excellent musician, starting with a guitar as a young teen and continuing to play all of his life. These days, Paul plays mandolin with the Dark Ridge Boys.

Paul grew up surrounded by traditional music. Ashe County was a hotbed for mountain music, and Paul’s father played fiddle and banjo. When Paul was 14 years old, his parents got him a Gene Autry Silvertone guitar, and like many other musicians, “Wildwood Flower” was the first song he remembers learning.

Paul worked as a carpenter and has long been a skillful woodworker. He had worked on repairing a number of instruments, and in 1964, he decided to disassemble a guitar and figure out how it was built. During that year, Paul started making his own handmade instruments, starting with a guitar and mandolin. Using only hand tools, he built a flattop mandolin and guitar, but he was busy working and put the hobby aside for a while.

Over the years, Paul continued working on instruments as a hobby while he worked in carpentry, sheet rock businesses, furniture and automobile factories for a profession. But, when he retired from carpentry about 18 years ago, he began building and repairing instruments full time. He has continued to make more and more instruments over the past 20 years. In 1968 he built guitar #8, in 1989 he was up to #18, and over the past year he has completed guitar #92.

Paul has also gained a reputation for building incredibly intricate miniature instruments. The miniatures are about six inches in length, but they are exact replicas of the full-sized instruments. Over the years he has built a copy of Doc Watson’s guitar, Ricky Skaggs’ mandolin, Emmy Lou Harris’ guitar, Bill Monroe’s mandolin, James Monroe’s guitar, Rhonda Vincent’s mandolin, and he has a miniature Martin guitar that is on display in the Martin guitar museum in Pennsylvania.

Paul Graybeal
2231 Silverstone Rd.
Zionville, NC 28698
828-297-5109