The Frank Ford Scholarship Fund

The Frank Ford Scholarship Fund

The Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery is pleased to announce the launch of the Frank Ford Scholarship Fund. This is a collaboration with Frank's wife Joy Imai, Richard Johnston, Gryphon Stringed Instruments and the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery to honor the legacy of Frank Ford. Donations to this fund will allow learning experiences for aspiring luthiers for years to come. 

To donate, write your tax-deductible check to Frank Ford Scholarship Fund. (The fund is administered by the Friends of the Old Town Center for the Arts (FOTCA), which is a 501c3 non-profit charitable organization). Mail your check to: Gryphon Stringed Instruments, 211 Lambert Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306 or mail to: , 1012 Grand Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85007. Other payment delivery methods will be on board in the next few days.  For more information contact: info@roberto-venn.com or call 602-243-1179.

We are deeply saddened to learn of Frank Ford’s passing. As a guest lecturer Frank regularly traveled to Phoenix to give our students a demonstration on neck resets, re-frets, pickguard replacement and many other repair operations to over 60 classes. We called Frank a ‘performance artist’ as he did these ‘demos’ in real time, while talking through each step of the process. His knowledge and experience in the world of guitars and guitar repair is truly remarkable. His tales of repair experiences, customer relations, tool use and everything guitar related was always fascinating, insightful and informative.

Through his dedication to training his tech staff, teaching at our school, his many appearances at the Guild of American Luthier’s and Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans conventions, appearances at Northwoods Guitar Seminar and tag team demos with Dan Erlewine, his writings in Fretboard Journal and many other publications, and all of Frank’s associations and vast network of clients, leaves a considerable legacy to his boundless sharing of information to the guitar making and repair community. His partnership with Richard Johnston and the creation of Gryphon Stringed Instruments is legendary, and a real testament to what a music store can bring to a community.

William Eaton, Director, Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery

John Reuter, Bart Applewhite, Steve Davis, Jim Prater, Robert Manzullo, Mark Allred, Brady Shreeve, AJ Machnes, Joe Vallee, John Lippi and all of the students and graduates of Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery