The Crafted Cow

The Crafted Cow has been in business since 1974. We began in San Jacinto, Californa doing basic leather craft under the mentorship of Fred Gehring, who became CEO of Tandy Leather. Rather than become a cog in a corporate wheel, we chose to remain an independent business.

In 1977, we moved to Brookings, Oregon as a full shoe repair and custom leather shop. In 1984, we expanded to include auto, home, and marine upholstery.

We moved again in 1987 to Salem, Oregon since Brookings lacked adequate music teachers for our daughter. She is now a piano professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Once in Salem, we began focusing on both doing and teaching upholstering.

Although I have played guitar since 1951, it wasn't until 1999 when I discovered a fretted instrument with the same number of strings as I had fingers. Playing brass, woodwinds,percussion instruments and the harmonica really didn't do a whole lot for my social life. It is really hard to talk or sing when there is something attached to your lips or in your mouth. The guitar chord shapes I knew have not been wasted. Some ukuleles are tuned the same as the first four strings of a guitar, D_G_B_E, while the others are tuned exactly the same as a guitar with a capo on the fifth fret G_C_E_A. Chord shapes are not different on a uke, if you are used to playing above the fifth fret on a guitar. It has become more than a hobby.