The Spuyten Duyvil String Instrument Repair Story

Joining together a lifelong passion for musical instruments with an irrepresible inclination to fix broken stuff, Paul Hemmings established Spuyten Duyvil String Instrument Repair in 2024 to help better serve the lutherie needs of the North Bronx, Upper Manhattan, and the greater New York City area.

An inveterate tinkerer by nature, Paul first cut his teeth on musical instrument repairs as a college student at UC Davis in the mid-1990s. While working at Davis Music (subsequently Second Street Music), he got his initial taste for guitar repair work and apprenticed for a time with local lutherie legend Keith Cary. After graduating from college, Paul packed up his car and drove across the country to Ithaca, NY, where he continued to soak up guitar repair know-how from co-workers Harry and Jordan Aceto at Ithaca Guitar Works. Then after a short stint as a cruise ship musician, Paul finally landed in New York City and soon began working at Matt Umanov Guitars in the West Village where he worked with renowned luthier Tom Crandall, a relationship that endures to this day.

Over the course of the next two decades, Paul continued to hone his guitar repair skills while also performing, recording, and teaching music. As a faculty member at the Third Street Music School Settlement in Manhattan's East Village, he worked on countless student instruments and became the go-to guy for in-house repairs. The Covid pandemic and ensuing lock-down forced a period of retooling, both literally and figuratively, as Paul began building instruments, speaker cabinets, furniture, and ultimately plans to hang out his own shingle and launch what would become Spuyten Duyvil String Instrument Repair.

These days, if he's not playing a guitar or ukulele, Paul can just as likely be found repairing one in his workshop overlooking Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Stop by if your instrument needs fixing; just remember to make an appointment first.