Fred Casey has been a familiar face at Folk Festivals from Prince Albert's Guitar Festival to the Hand Made Village at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Musicians from around the world have made their way into his tent to try his finely-crafted guitars, dulcimers, harps and other stringed instruments, while others have made emergency calls bringing Fred their wounded instruments for skillful on-site surgery.
From 1970 - 1974, Fred studied classical guitar at the renowned Conservatorio Nacional de Musica in Mexico City, and since then has been both a performer and teacher of guitar. His repertoire ranges from classical to Celtic to Spanish. Fred has published articles in several luthiers' journals, and also composes music for the guitar and voice including "Ferris Fair", a Celtic suite and "Borealis - for Kate", which has been published in an international arts magazine.
In 1978 Fred built his first dulcimer, and the rest - as they say - is history. He traveled to San Diego in 1980 and studied under master luthier Bozo Podunavac. Since then, C.F.Casey Guitars has created custom stringed instruments for such noted performers as Daniel Koulak, Ken Whitely, Alana Levandosky, Rick Avery, Kate Ferris, Paul Hann, and Len Udow. Recognition has come from other areas as well. From over 90 submissions, the Manitoba Crafts Council unanimously chose to exhibit one of Fred's fine guitars - "The Turtle Woman" - in their 1997 Juried Craft Show. His craftsmanship has been featured nationally on CBC-TV's Coleman & Company and local CBC-FM's Arts Encounters.
In April of 1997, with the help of a grant awarded by the Manitoba Arts Council, Fred once again traveled to California; this time to Healdsburg to take a seven-day intensive course on archtop guitar construction under the tutelage of master luthier Tom Ribbecke. This venture took C.F.Casey Guitars in an exciting new direction: that of hand-carved archtop guitars.
Fred has also developed a line of C. F. Casey Harps, combining his technical expertise and craftsmanship to produce beautifully hand-made Celtic harps. Many have intricate knotwork carving on the pillar and sides. Two of his harps have found their way to Germany, and another now lives in Ireland!
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