Jennings Chestnut, born in Conway, South Carolina, was an American luthier, specializing in mandolins.

Despite his lack of formal training, Chestnut's mandolins became popular among bluegrass musicians in and around Conway. He began making mandolins when he could not afford to buy one for his oldest son.^[1] Although able to play the banjo and guitar, Chestnut never learned to play the mandolin.^[2]

Career

Chestnut resided in Conway for much of his life, with the exception of four years spent in the Army and twenty years spent managing an insurance company in North Carolina. On leaving the insurance business, Chestnut worked as a market stallholder in Myrtle Beach.

In 1968, he noticed Carl Story's band featured a mandolin when they were in Wilmington for a gig. Carl told Chestnut that the instrument had been constructed by C.E. Ward, the banjo player.^[2]

Chestnut created his first instrument in 1971, using a friend's mandolin as a model. He used parts from a five-gallon pickle barrel, old pianos and mother-of-pearl buttons in a laundromat's lost and found.

He stopped building mandolins in 1990. Chestnut stated in an interview with Caroline Wright that, "I never wanted to be a manufacturer, and the next three I built were always sold [in advance]." He always screened prospective owners of his instruments.^[2]

Projects

Death

Chestnut died of an inoperable brain tumor at 7:30 a.m. on February 14, 2010. A benefit concert had been scheduled for February 21, 2010, to raise funds for medical expenses; it went on as planned, raising money for Chestnut's wife, Willie Chestnut, and acting as a memorial service.^[4]

References