Creating beautiful guitars while keeping mom’s memory alive

Jake Willoughby builds guitars one at a time, from raw lumber to a finished instrument, in a shop in Arkansas City. Each one carries his mother’s name.

Willoughby started C.R. Alsip Guitars in February. The name honors his mother, Connie Rae Alsip-Willoughby, who died before the business got off the ground. He had once thought about calling it Mason Alsip, after his grandfather, Max Ray Alsip, a stonemason.

He says naming the company for his mother is also a way to talk about cancer awareness.

The shop is small, but the customers are not. Bill Leverty of Firehouse and Frank Hannon of Tesla were the first guitarists to endorse C.R. Alsip guitars and take them on the road. This year Willoughby also worked with Phil Collen of Def Leppard to raise money for the Gerson Institute.