I tried to make guitars that were close to what my heroes played. That's the way it's done. My experience is that you have to do it like a musician. You have to learn the language before you can learn to be a novelist.

Somebody's going to wake up and their job in life is going to be to make guitars. There are a lot of good, talented people.

It used to be that I could talk to someone in Texas and nobody would hear about it. Now, the moment I open my mouth it's all over the world. The second I say something, guys in Germany know about it. It's basically a wonderful thing because more information is spread, but you have to keep your mouth shut.

I tried to make guitars that were close to what my heroes played. That's the way it's done. My experience is that you have to do it like a musician. You have to learn the language before you can learn to be a novelist.

I change guitars as they come and go. I have one I played for almost a decade, but I've put it away. It was the first McCarty. Now, I'm playing one I grabbed off the line. I've been playing it ever since.

There are times when product is more important than people and sometimes the people are more important than the product.

I have my own hard earned money and if I buy a fly rod I'm going to give my money to the company that's giving me value. I'm going to the guy who gives me my money's worth.