Raven’s Tale

It all began long ago… John R. Ravary, of Point Place, Toledo Ohio got the nickname of Raven. He was a promising artsy kinda guy from an electrician’s family with a college major in Computer Science Engineering. Trained in high level math, science and cutting edge computers of the day, he didn’t like the direction he was headed. He switched majors to art and soon was broke and on his own in the big world. He became a whitewater raft guide in the summer and lived at Colorado’s best ski areas in the winter. The years went by, he met a girl and they moved to Maui, Hawaii where he made his first ukulele at an evening class at the high school under the watchful eye of Craig Fujii.

He caught the building bug. It was art, design, physics… and also yielded something tangible, something that made music! It was the perfect hobby, and before he knew it, he had a dozen ukulele starting to pile up. The gallery at the four star Grand Wailea Resort agreed to sell his work and soon he was getting custom orders from international clientele. He branched out to also make archtop guitars and later, mandolins. Now aged 65, he lives in Fayetteville West Virginia and continues to build a wide variety of instruments with distinctive design and high quality. With 85 instruments completed, he has earned the reputation of a small business with the ability and vision to make fine quality instruments in a custom setting where each is a work of art with strict attention to detail.

This website highlights his work and makes available not only the works that he has made of his own initiative and seemingly endless inner drive, but also the avenue to explore if you’re looking for a special order, custom instrument of your dreams.

Thanks for visiting and with a click you can check out the Instagram link or the Facebook page. They both show us in a more home town, natural setting.