Guitar maker hopes to diversify

Terry Reister speaks quite softly, but the guitars he makes sing out loud.

Reister and his son, Terry Reister Jr, showed off the elder's products at the Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at The Melody last Thursday.

The owner of Sandy's Grocery store in Wilbur started making guitars about 20 years ago, but now it's getting a little more serious.

They are working on converting the former Texaco station in Wilbur into a store to display his guitars.

They brought a few along last week. One was made of koa wood sides and back, with a spruce front. Koa only grows in Hawaii. Others feature curly maple, or mahogany.

Some were made of much cheaper material, but sound pretty good plugged in; they're made from cigar boxes with homemade pickups to plug into amplifiers.

"Most of them, he doesn't build to sell," Terry Jr said. But that could change if they get that guitar store going.

In the meantime, Sandy's caries guitar strings and other supplies in a small section of the store. They also carry some beginner electrics and acoustics.

It takes him about 100 hours to make a guitar, Reister estimated.