Steve Campbell (Prineville) is an instrument maker who refined his skills on the production floor at Breedlove Guitar manufacturing. He now works from his own shop where he has crafted over 100 guitars, mandolins, and fiddles out of Oregon timber and exotic foreign tonewoods.
Bio
Steve Campbell grew up in La Grande. When he was 13, his father moved the family 22 miles upriver to Starkey. Campbell’s mother made the clothes for the family, cooked all meals, and still found time to play the organ. His grandfather and uncle both picked the guitar, and his uncle had once been a sideman for the legendary Buck Owens. The first song Campbell learned from his grandfather was “The Wildwood Flower.” After graduating from high school, Campbell tried his hand at building an oak fiddle. When he played it at his blues band practice, “their mouths dropped open,” he laughed. Some years later, when he and his family were living in Prineville, Campbell toured the Breedlove Guitar manufacturing facility in Tumalo, a small town outside of Bend. At the time he had given no thought to building guitars, but after touring the complex “something in [me] just jumped alive,” Campbell recalled. In short order, he was on the job with Breedlove. Craftsmen on the production floor became steadfast mentors. Despite the steady paycheck, something was telling him to set up his own business. “I’d come home and there would be machinery sitting in my driveway...a lot that you see...was donated,” he mused. After four years, Campbell took a leap of faith and resigned from Breedlove Guitars. “I think I’m just supposed to open up shop!” An initial order from his pastor started him down his new path. Since then, Campbell has crafted more than 100 guitars, mandolins, and fiddles in his close-quartered garage workshop, using exotic tonewoods from Oregon to as far distant as Belize.
