Kettler Mandolins History

Kettler Mandolins began in the late 1970s, when Everett Kettler switched from making fine, sculpted furniture to building the musical instrument that he had come to play and love.

These first handcrafted instruments were sold in small regional music shops and directly to musicians at bluegrass festivals and craft shows up and down the east coast and were called “Tree Frog Mandolins” in reference to the big sound of a small tree frog.

As Kettler Mandolins’ reputation grew in the 1980s, they were sold in more well-known stores across the country large and small, including McCabe’s and Elderly Instruments.

Kettler Mandolins have been played by a number of well-respected musicians, including Peter Rowan, Orrin Starr, Peter Feldman, and others.

These instruments were also favorably reviewed by the editors of Frets magazine in the early 1980s.

After a long hiatus, Kettler Mandolins are being hand crafted by Everett once again in northern Vermont, in a shop along the shore of Lake Champlain.

The same blend of respect for traditional sounds and creative exploration and design that began in the 1970s is still at the heart of each of these one-of-a-kind instruments.

While some instrument makers build “models” with repeated designs, bindings and colors, Kettler Mandolins are each individual creations, with unique bindings, colorings, finishes and inlays.

Each instrument has a look and a voice that’s all its own.