Jayne Henderson, luthier at EJ Henderson Guitars and daughter of renowned guitar builder, Wayne Henderson, is celebrating the birth of her first child.
Sylvia Matilda Henderson Gilbert was born this morning at 10:15 a.m. in Asheville, NC, weighing in at 7 lb, 10 oz. Jayne says they are planning on calling her Matilda.
Jayne took a circuitous route into luthiery. As a young girl, she spent time with her dad at his shop, but after high school went off to college and then law school. But the bug had been borned into her, and instrument building kept calling her back. Starting out by working under Wayne at his shop, she soon opened her own in Asheville, building guitars and ukuleles to help pay off her law school loans. Now Jayne supports herself as a builder, and offers a number of guitar models, as well as ukuleles, based on pre-war Martin specs. Her speciality is smaller body instruments using sustainable tonewoods.
This is an especially proud moment for me, as I have known Jayne since she was in middle school. She was raised primarily here in Roanoke, VA, and attended the same high school as my son. We were frequent carpool riders together, and I have followed her career with some relish.
Many congratulations to Jayne and her husband, and a big Bluegrass Today welcome to little Matilda!
