Feature article from the Tallahassee Democrat:

Kyle Dunn keeps strings in tune

Kyle Dunn's life is like the instruments he repairs.

One string is his love of music, a second his drive to be an entrepreneur. Others are his keen interest in computers and his passion for family and community.

Throughout his life he's been able to pluck different combinations. But now, at age 56, he strums them in unison like a well-tuned guitar.

By day, he's the Chief Technology Officer for FSI. At night and on weekends, he's a luthier at Stringfest, an instrument and repair shop on Calhoun Street that he owns with his wife, Marion. Every few months for the past year, the couple has hosted a house concert there.

The inspiration for the shop stemmed from the Dunns' granddaughter, Mia Lindner. Ten years ago, when she was 7 and expressed interest in playing violin, Dunn decided to restore an old violin he had bought for her before she was even born. Word soon got around that he repaired instruments and requests started coming in. Stringfest eventually grew out of the ever-increasing demand.

"I'm living without regrets and resentments and enjoying life," Dunn said.

Musicians in town are equally grateful that he's here. He's almost the only luthier - someone who repairs stringed instruments - in town. He's particularly good at "voicing" an instrument, a process of tapping the back of a violin, viola, cello or bass and then adjusting the sound post inside the instrument until the different segments of the instrument are in harmony.

Dave Joy, who has had Dunn fix his solid body guitars, said Dunn was meticulous - "a perfect attitude for a luthier."

"For musicians, instruments are extremely important and we treat them with TLC," Joy said. "Some of my guitars are worth $10,000 and I wouldn't hand them to just anybody. But when I give my guitars to Kyle, I know they'll be fixed correctly."

Valerie Arsenault, a violin teacher and music director of the Tallahassee Bach Parley, also loves the variety of violins he has for sale. When one of her students is ready to purchase one, she'll make an appointment with Dunn (Stringfest is open by appointment only).

When the student arrives, around 10 violins, ranging in price from $165 to $5,000, will be on a table. First Aresenault will play one, then the student will. When choices are narrowed down to a few, the student will turn his or her back and just listen as Arsenault plays them, encouraging the student to pick out a violin based on sound, not looks.

"About 20 of my students have gone through this," Arsenault said. "It can take up to 45 minutes."

Building relationships with musicians is the best part of the job for Dunn, particularly when he hands someone back a repaired or restored instrument.

"Seeing the enjoyment people get from my work is wonderful," he said. "It's the special part of my job."

From coffeehouse to house concerts

Dunn grew up in Fort Lauderdale, where he played in rock bands in middle school and sang in the choir in high school. He learned guitar on an inexpensive Sears Silvertone, but got a real boost when his mother, his biggest fan, later gave him a Gibson J45.

As a teen, he worked at Lank Oil Company and so impressed his boss with his industriousness that the boss told Dunn that if he ever wanted to start a business, he'd help him out. Dunn would later take him up on his word.

Dunn majored in music at Florida State University, singing in an opera in Ruby Diamond Auditorium. In his spare time he started a coffeehouse in Kellum Hall, getting musicians such as Steve Meisburg and John Paul Walters to come and perform.

After graduation, Dunn moved back to Fort Lauderdale and at the age of 23 opened a music store with a $5,000 loan from his old boss. The night before the store opened, he met he met a luthier who had been trained in New York. They hit it off so well, Dunn was soon repairing instruments with him.

To keep track of the repairs, he got a computer and taught himself to write software. One day, a customer noticed his work on the computer and invited him back to his company, Motorola, to see what Dunn could do with the computers there. Dunn eventually got out of the music store business and became a computer consultant, although he continued the luthier work on the side.

When Dunn came up to Tallahassee to work at FSI in 1998, he considered himself a retired luthier. But then Mia needed that violin, and he got drawn back into the business, at first setting up a shop in his home and garage. In 2003 he started Stringfest.

Eventually instruments overflowed his house. When his grandson, a commercial Realtor, showed him a 1925 bungalow on Calhoun Street about three years ago, he bought it, spent nine months renovating it and then moved Stringfest from his home to the bungalow.

Last year Dunn tried another venture - hosting house concerts at his shop. The bungalow, with its wooden floors, walls and ceilings, had great acoustics. Since then, a half-dozen artists have played there, usually to a sold-out audience of 30.

Lis Williamson, who performed at a September concert along with her husband, Lon, and their friend, Gabe Valla, said it was a great venue for a musician.

"As a performer you know that whoever comes is interested in hearing music as opposed to another setting like a festival or a restaurant where people have other things on their mind," she said. "It was a pleasure to be with like-minded people who care about music."

Charlie McCoy, who has attended almost all the house concerts, raved about the clean sound.

"If someone wants to listen to music intently, this is an excellent place," he said. "You can hear so well."

Before the September concert, people sat out on the porch sipping wine. Dunn was reminded of his coffeehouse days at Kellum Hall. During intermission, Marion Dunn served homemade oatmeal cookies.

The atmosphere was laid-back, just like Dunn. He moved among the crowd quietly, no longer in a rush to build a career or sell a product. His goal now is to be useful to his family, other musicians and the community.

At this stage in his life, he feels blessed.