Circle Strings Information

My passion for instruments goes beyond building and repair work. As a working musician, who plays banjo, mandolin and guitar, I understand what a musician ultimately wants to get out of their instrument. After studying with Bob Jones in Brooklyn NY, one of the most respected and talented luthiers in the country, I felt confident enough to take on my own clients and start Circle Strings. I was very fortunate to have Bob right next to me while I worked on my early repairs. For over two years I was head repairman at Retrofret in Brooklyn NY with Steve Uhrik, Peter Kohman, and Jason Petty. Working with them gave me the opportunity to repair and restore some of the world's most valuable and rare instruments. It was there that I built some of my first guitars while having all of the vintage pieces, broken and playable, that I was able to study from. I worked on everything from a soprano ukulele to a Ernie Ball Earthwood bass. It was an amazing time. VT was calling me, and raising a family in NYC was not what I wanted. I was offered a position to teach guitar building and repair at Vermont Instruments and moved up North. I spent a few years teaching and building/repairing on the side. I then worked at Froggy Bottom Guitars and learned so much about guitar building, dedication to a craft, hard work, and most importantly, myself. I have finally settled back in Burlington VT, next to my alma mater UVM, and have opened up my own shop doing custom builds and repairs. I am mostly building guitars, mandolins, and more recently tenor guitars and double course tenors (ala octave mandolins). These instruments combine my love of mandolin and guitar and are a rare bird in the handcrafted scene of instruments. Cat moved to Vermont with her husband Rick Davis of Running Dog Guitars in November 2017. She is happy to be back in the Northeast and looking forward to continuing on the tradition of doing exemplary repairs on all fretted instruments in partnership with Circle Strings. Cat graduated from the lutherie program at the ...