I spend a lot of time in Central Oregon, one of my favorite places in the world. I love the fly fishing there, and it's a hotbed of high end acoustic guitar making which is another passion of mine. One visit a few years ago I reached out to Dave Dozer wondering if I might be able to visit his bamboo rod making shop at his home in Sisters. Dave, being the kind and generous sort that he is, happily agreed. The visit turned into a two hour session in his workshop, showing me his entire shop and explaining his process of bamboo rod making from culm to finished rod. During that visit, Dave mentioned he had a new apprentice learning rod building, Olivia Elia. Olivia would work in Dave's shop in her spare time while making guitars at the nearby Preston Thompson Guitar Company for her day job (which led to a later tour of their shop, meeting Olivia as she worked on a custom ordered $16,000 guitar, and diving into the world of Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, and others who play those instruments, but that's another story).
For those who love bamboo fly rods, bootstrapping yourself into artistic trades, the very best acoustic guitars in the world, and the beauty of Central Oregon, this video might be of interest. I love all of those, so I loved it. Thanks to Dave Dozer for sharing it first on his FB posts. And huge, huge kudos to Oliva Elia for becoming a master craftsperson of two of my favorite forms of functional art. Cheers!
For those who love bamboo fly rods, bootstrapping yourself into artistic trades, the very best acoustic guitars in the world, and the beauty of Central Oregon, this video might be of interest. I love all of those, so I loved it. Thanks to Dave Dozer for sharing it first on his FB posts. And huge, huge kudos to Oliva Elia for becoming a master craftsperson of two of my favorite forms of functional art. Cheers!
