NOT JUST A GUITAR
by
Maryann Miller

 

You don't have to be a guitar player to appreciate the fine quality of the Mossman Guitars. They are equally admired for the beauty of the rich grained woods they are made from as they are for the quality of the sound they produce. But if you are a guitar player and pick one up... well, if you're like me it's hard to go back to your pawnshop special with any great amount of enthusiasm.

It's that kind of reaction that Tony Stewart (R) and his partner, Bob Casey, who happens to also be his cousin, hope to capitalize on by opening a retail store to sell Mossman Guitars in Winnsboro. "We'll sell the guitars, as well as all kinds of musical accessories," Tony said. "We'll even carry accessories for school band instruments."

In addition to being a retail store, Mossman Guitars will also be a repair shop, and visitors can stop by during business hours just to watch Tony repair instruments, or work on a new one. All Mossman guitars are hand-crafted, and Tony said it takes about three months from order to completion. Currently, the guitars are made in a shop in Sulphur Springs, and that will continue as the main manufacturing site, although Tony said eventually, he would like to move that to Winnsboro, too.

The store will be open on Thursdays and Fridays from 5 - 9p.m., and Saturdays from 4-10p.m. "We'd like to offer the folks who come to town those nights for evening dining something else to do while they are in town," Tony said.

This past Thursday, Tony was putting the sign on the window in preparation for opening on Friday.

Tony and his wife, Meya, have lived in Winnsboro since 1990 and their two children went through the Winnsboro School System. Lydia, twenty-one, lives in Tyler and is a zookeeper. Willis, nineteen, still lives at home. Tony works as a computer programmer during the day, and evenings are spent at the Sulphur Springs manufacturing plant. "I'm there a lot on weekends, too," he said. "My cousin and I make all the instruments, and we can make a little more than one a week."

He laughed at that. "We are definitely not your typical assembly line."

In addition to making instruments, Tony plays several - guitar, banjo, saxophone, bass guitar, and upright bass. "And also a little mandolin." With the exception of a few banjo lessons, he has learned all the other instruments by playing them. "I've just always loved music," he said. "I had a small bluegrass band for a little while in Sulphur Springs. We played mostly private parties, but it was fun."

The Mossman Guitar company has an interesting history. With a desire to make high quality handmade acoustic guitars, Stuart Mossman started the company in 1965 in Kansas, where it thrived for over a decade as the demand for acoustic guitars rose. At it's peak in the late 70s, the company produced 150 guitars a month. Then in the late-eighties, Mossman sold the company to a former employee, Scott Baxendale, who moved the company to Dallas and sold it to John Kinsey and Bob Casey in 1989. In 1991, Mossman Guitars was moved to Sulphur Springs, where Bob had family ties.

Through all of these transitions, the company has maintained the same commitment to excellence that Stuart Mossman started with, and the Mossman guitars have been strummed by many performers. Some of the most notable are Ray Wylie Hubbard, John Denver, Ann Armstrong, Sara Hickman, and the early Dixie Chicks. "We even built one for Prince," Tony said. "But I've never seen him play it."

(The picture on the right shows snaps of some of the celebrities who own Mossmans, and the one of the four girls is the original Dixie Chicks. )

Bob, who seemed content to let Tony do most of the talking, wasn't shy about grabbing a guitar and doing a bit of pickin' 'n strummin'. "Oh, I play a little," he said. "But not as good as Tony."

His version of playing a little is like Sean Connery saying, "I dabble in films." Bob played and sang a sweet little hillbilly tune about Wheeling, West Virginia, and sounded very much like a pro.

The men obviously like to tease and have a good time, and that will make it fun to visit them in the store. But they are dead serious about the quality of the instruments they make. "A Mossman Guitar will always have the same quality and craftmanship that has made them a valued instrument," Tony said.

For more information about the guitars and the history of the company, you can visit their Website