It happened in the middle of 1980's while I was attending a technical college. At that time I visited one of the oldest musical factories in Ukraine and was introduced to a very famous guitar-maker, Nikolay Yeschenko.

I saw how a person could make a beautiful guitar from a piece of wood using only his hands and few tools. I was very impressed and didn't know what to say. When a professional guitar player who happened to be there played that guitar, I became even more excited. I have never heard a guitar sounding so alive. It was very surprising to me because I was just a teenager. I wished I could create a beautiful instrument myself, but it seemed very unrealistic. No matter how hard I tried to get rid of the idea to make my own guitar, I couldn't shake it off. Finally I decided that I definitely had to start making my own instrument.

I went back to the factory that I visited before. When I met Nikolay Yeschenko again, I asked him if I could learn from him. He agreed and I started working. It was a long a difficult learning process, during which I was ready to give up a few times, but I was trying to fight this feeling. I knew that I would not be able to forgive myself if I gave up. At first, it seemed that my tools were never sharp enough, and that I could not cut wood straight, etc. I spent almost a year just making my own tools and creating my first guitar. Finally, at Christmas time of 1991, I put a set of nylon strings on my first guitar.

I was very happy that I was able to achieve my goal and wanted to continue working in that area. I was hired at the same musical factory and began to work. Some time later, after I made my tenth guitar, I got a hold of some guitar repair tools. This is when I found out, that in some cases it is much more difficult to repair musical instruments than to create new ones.

In 1995, I moved to New York and discovered that there are many more musicians and musical stores in that city, than anywhere else I've ever seen. Also, I found out that here in America not only professional musicians, but also beginners have at least one musical instrument of their own. Many of them have 10 or more musical instruments. A lot of times people want to repair their old instrument instead of buying a new one. It might be a present from parents or grandparents or a family heirloom, or they might just be so used to that old instrument that it becomes an important part of their life. In any case, musicians (whether professional or amateur) need to take good care of their "old friends".

Soon I found a musical store where a repairman was needed and I started repairing different types of musical instruments such as guitars, basses, mandolins, banjos and others. Since I was repairing different types of instruments, I began researching more about each of them. I found out that each of the instrument types has certain unique structural qualities and challenges. Sometimes I see instruments that have no brand name on them. People make them on their own and bring them in to make some improvement or to fix problem areas. Since I began working in New York I have repaired over four thousand different musical instruments. Every time I fix an instrument it is a challenge for me. Sometimes it requires creating a set of new additional tools, just to do a small section of a repair job.

I love what I am doing and I feel happy when people are satisfied with my work. I am looking forward to learning new skills and applying the ones I already have with greater efficiency. My work inspires me, it brings me satisfaction and joy. I hope I can share that joy with you.