01 — Selection
The wood comes first
Spalted maple, walnut, purpleheart, lacewood. Every set is chosen by hand for grain, weight, and how it will move and sing once it's a body and neck.
The Maker
A family of builders,
A family of builders,
a lifetime at the bench.
Michael A. Thomas was raised among craftsmen, artists, and storytellers — a family that designed and built custom homes along the California coast and treated making something by hand as a way of life.
He started in the early 2000s, taking instruments apart to understand them, then asking the questions most players never do: Why was it built this way? What would I change? How could it be better? That curiosity turned into repair, then modification, then building from raw wood at the same drafting table his grandfather made.
For years every instrument left the shop by word of mouth alone. No ads. No campaigns. If you knew, you knew — and if you wanted one, you usually knew someone who already owned one.
Michael A. Thomas
Founder & Luthier · Thunder Crown
