Meet The Luthier

Shane Butler

Shane Butler is a husband, father of 2 and grandfather of 5 who has lived in East Texas over 56 years. He began building acoustic guitars in 2003. He built the first Butler Guitar for his son, Jacob, and soon guitar orders were coming in from friends and family. Shane continues to work full time in the poultry industry just as he’s done for 40 years. When he’s not working or playing with grandkids, you can find Shane in the shop behind their home passionately creating one-of-a-kind custom guitars to be passed down from generation to generation. 

History of Butler Guitars

​​Some folks have asked how I got started building guitars. I’ve played guitar since age 4 and love any stringed instrument. I worked in a local music store as a teenager selling guitars. My adventure in guitar building began many years later when I took our church youth group on a trip to Dollywood. There in the park, I found a luthier shop and met J.P. Rushing. I asked him countless questions about building guitars for hours on end. Right there in Dollywood, I knew I’d build at least one acoustic guitar.

Over the next six months, I read every page of the book Guitar making by Jonathan Natelson. I finally got the courage to purchase the raw materials from Martin to build a HD-28 dreadknot guitar. My wife was so happy to have me building a guitar in the living room of our home!

Everyone thought I was building it for myself, but it was finished just before my son’s 18th birthday, February 18, 2004. I surprised him with it at his party. The look on his face and the tears in his eyes made it worth all the time and effort it took to build it.

Friends and family heard that first guitar played and orders for custom-built Butler Guitars began!

People who commission a Butler Guitar build with me have full access to the end-to-end process including custom tone woods, trim, paint and hardware selections. Some have commemorated the guitar to someone special in their life. Others have gifted one as a surprise for a loved one.

In 2004, I joined the Guild of American Luthiers. This gave me the opportunity to sit under the teaching of great guitar builders like Dana Bourgeois. I learned the art of tap tuning the top braces to give each unique piece of tone wood its full voice. This technique has differentiated Butler guitars from other off the shelf mass-produced guitars.

​Butler Guitars continues to grow while still remaining a one-man operation dedicated to passionately building the finest custom guitars I can make.