BlueNoteWoodworks.com

Bio

Rob Cusumano has been  building & repairing musical instruments professionally, since 1972.            

While in his teen years Rob was very enthusiastic about Woodworking & Music.  His building & repairing of musical 

instruments started sometime in his late teen years, as he discovered that he could marry Wood & Music.  He started

building mountain dulcimers mostly by trial and error  (while working in cabinet shops, and going to school).  After

college he worked for some of the world’s largest known manufactures.  In 1972, he began his professional career at 

Original Musical Instruments (Dobro, resonator  guitars), employed by the inventors & designers of National & Dobro  

guitars,  (the Dopyera brothers, Rudy & Emil (Ed).  While there, he worked with John Quarterman (Quarterman 

Res-O-Cones), Don Young (National Resophonic Guitars), & Fiddlin' Red Simpson. From there, he apprenticed 

with world famous Master Luthier, Ren Ferguson  (now production manager at Gibson’s Montana plant), this is where he 

helped build John McLaughlin's famous "Double Rainbow " guitar.  After  that, he was then employed by CBS  

(Fender® Musical Instruments), working in the Neck Fabrication dept. until he was promoted to  the  Q/C  

dept. (Material Review Board), that's where he found the sister of George Harrison's solid rosewood Telecaster  

from 1968, buried under a heap of boxes. When Leo Fender  went back into business as CLF  Research, for Music 

Man guitars in 1976,  Rob was then employed in the Woodshop and Assembly dept. Within six months warranty 

repairs were starting to come in,  and Rob was asked by Mr. Fender, to head up the Repair Dept., where he worked on 

guitars owned by Albert Lee, Joe DiBartola, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash,  James Burton, Eric Clapton, and many 

others. In 1979 Rob moved to Oregon, and in 1980 started his own musical instrument repair business until 1998, when 

he started to  pursue other interests. After  great demand & requests, Rob felt led to start  the Repair Shop back 

up again, as "Blue Note Woodworks" under RC  Enterprises LLC,  in 2007.   As  a  Christian, Rob believes that all 

music is created and inspired by God, the giver of Life &  our Eternal Living Soul .  And that God gave us Art & 

Music, the language of our Soul & our Inspired Worship.   Rob's desire is  to help All  bring God's  Inspired Art  & 

Music  back to the streets & homes of today's mainstream culture.    

Psalms 150:3-6

1980-1998            Guitar Repairman             Self-employed,  Medford & Grants Pass,  OR

1976-1979            Guitar Maker/Repair    CLF  Research (Music Man Guitars),  Fullerton,  CA

1974-1976            Guitar Maker/QC        CBS  (Fender® Musical Instruments),  Fullerton,  CA

1973-1974            Guitar Maker                      Ren Ferguson (now at Gibson) Guitars ,  Venice,  CA

What's a Blue Note you ask?     

In an excerpt from  the encyclopedia Wikipedia:  

In jazz and blues, blue notes are notes sung or played at a lower pitch than those of the major scale for expressive purposes.  Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers.  Though blue notes are  usually said to be flattened third, flattened fifth, and flattened seventh scale degrees. These blue notes are what turns a major scale into the blues scale.  The same transformation of notes transforms the minor scale into minor  blues scale.  (The color Blue is also believed to be "The Color of Heaven"  in some cultures.) 

At a Luthier's Convention

(The Giant Strat actually worked.) 

At Music Man

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