Luthier Brad Donaldson of Cannon Beach, Oregon. I have been a part time luthier for 28 years. As a Seattle native, my real job was running the ambient air monitoring network for Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. I retired from the agency in 2005, moved to Cannon Beach and have been free to pursue my passion of building instruments since. I started out making ukes at first, but as there was not much interest in them, switched to making mandolins and guitars. I am very glad that the ukulele has become popular again, it was the first instrument I learned to play and is the most fun for me to build.