Jerry Rosa & Rosa String Works

[Fretbear]

I have become a big fan of Jerry Rosa;
His YouTubes are both entertaining and highly educational.
Check him out, but leave him alone about using Titebond, he knows what he is doing.

[Bernie Daniel]

I have become a big fan of Jerry Rosa;
His YouTubes are both entertaining and highly educational.
Check him out, but leave him alone about using Titebond, he knows what he is doing.

Agreed 100%! I have been watching Jerry's videos for years. Everyone who is interested in working on and repairing instruments (guitars, mandolins, violins, cellos basses and other things) should sub his channel and watch his videos (he has close to 300 of them on YouTube!).

I've learned so much from his videos. Jerry is mostly conventional in his repair work but when he has to he goes WAY outside of the box and always gets the job done right. There are many many happy Rose customers out there.

Jerry has a metal shop as well as a wood shop so it is routine for him to custom make just about any part you could think of metal or wood for an instrument also. He also harvests trees and operates his own saw mill. In case you were wondering.

Only problem that he is so much in demand that the only way you can have him fix something is to deliver it by hand to his shop in Missouri. He has a long back list so no instruments come into the shop via the mail or shipping services anymore.

He builds a pretty looking F-5 mandolin and flat top guitar too called appropriately enough -- "The Rosa"!

And yes he uses Titebond and so does Gibson and many other great mandolin and guitar makers. (Nothing wrong with HHG either of course).

[William Smith]

Yes he's very informative and gives a load of pointers that will help anyone who works on instruments be it mandolin/guitar! Real good stuff-highly recommended for beginner or pro luthier! No complaints here and I'm just a tinkerer of sorts.

[Zigeuner]

I like his work as well. I know he does mandolins but he also does nice repairs on guitars. I recently watched his video on correcting the intonation on a Martin D-35 guitar. It was very interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzq4g0GoyWw&t=888s

[Br1ck]

Because of his videos I can:

remember to tighten the tuning knob screws on my mandolin that has them
level and crown frets
fix cracks
remove the back from a guitar
slip the neck block of a cheap guitar
cut binding slots
do a refret
set up my mandolins
evaluate neck angles

Really too much to mention, but building a mandolin was something I did after watching his detailed videos.

He will be the first one to tell you he is showing how he does things, not how others might do things. He has his opinions, you can have yours. All in all, if you are into building and repairing instruments, an entertaining channel. He keeps getting more mandolin commissions too.

[lflngpicker]

Fretbear, I agree! I have been watching Jerry's videos the last few weeks as we have been inside a lot due to the heat in California and retirement. He is both entertaining and educational! Wow, have we had fun especially watching him repair the headstock on that mandolin that was snapped off. That was the coolest. Any others that you recommend?

[Chinn]

Really enjoy his stuff. I'm building an A-style from an IV kit right now, and I've learned much of what I'm doing from his videos.

[Br1ck]

Fretbear, I agree! I have been watching Jerry's videos the last few weeks as we have been inside a lot due to the heat in California and retirement. He is both entertaining and educational! Wow, have we had fun especially watching him repair the headstock on that mandolin that was snapped off. That was the coolest. Any others that you recommend?

He was sent a Kentucky with no top. That's a good one. I agree with the bad headstock break videos being cool. There have been a few very sorry looking Gibson guitars too. Even the Rogue assessment is interesting. Pretty much everything is worth watching.

[Ruknrole]

I really enjoy Jerry’s YouTube channel as well. His mandolin build videos are my favorite.

However my all time favorite is his restoration of a fiddle called “Chocolate”.

[Denny B]

The only vids I've watched of this guy are the guitar ones. If you drop into the UMGF (Unofficial Martin Guitar forum) there are vids posted showing the atrocities he commits on vintage Martins. It's like a horror movie...I cringe watching it, but you have to see how it ends. He's also known for consistently deleting any critical comments, so it appears that he has 100% positive feedback.