About Us

1.)     Tell us a bit about Don Siltanen. I was born and raised in a small town in Northern Ontario, called Sault Ste Marie. It sits on the Great Lakes, and on the border with the USA. I'm an only child, but have 1 st cousins that were raised so close to me that I consider them my siblings. I have two children, Michael and Paulina, both are young adults now. I'm a widower, but was happily married to an incredible woman for 23 years. I'm also a Dentist, so most of the TTG community knows me as Doc.

 

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2.)      How/when did you.find Texas Toast Guitars? I found out about TTG through their Youtube channel. I had been building partscasters, and wanted to start building from scratch so I could have something a bit more unique. I believe it was probably in 2017 Or 2018. I was working with unfinished wood for the first time, and also trying to learn about the electronics of electric guitars, so I think the connection came through either the Dylan Talks Tone or crimson Youtube channels. I was immediately drawn to the TTG channel because Matt and Chris just seemed so grounded and genuine. I loved the fact that I could communicate with them directly during Live videos, and they would actually take time to answer my questions and give me advice.

 

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3.)      Tell us about your visit(s) to Texas Toast. I've been to 5 TTG classes since May of 2022. My first class was a Classic Fender class, with a pickup winding component taught by Dylan. That was my first time in the shop, and my introduction into the wider TTG community in Denver. It was also my first time meeting many people associated with the shop that have become very dear friends. I've been to the Woodworking class, Fabric-top class, the first Neck-Through class, and another Classic Fender class this past May to build myself a bass. I've also travelled out to Denver to visit the shop and my friends for special occasions like a Hawk Attack performance, a Jim Jamm Jimmy performance, the TTG Cridmin party, and of course the Great American Guitar Building Competition last August, and this year, too. At this point, I feel my visits to the TTG shop, and Denver in general, have become more of a Homecoming. I've got so many people there that I care for like family that it very much feels like a second home for me.

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4.)      Favorite quote? ."People do it, I'm a people, you're a people, so you can do it too"..... I think that perfectly sums up the way Matt and Chris approach teaching others to do what they do. It's all possible if you're willing to listen and learn.

 

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5.) How long have you been involved in music and/or guitar building? I've been around music literally my entire life. I grew up in a musical household. My Mother was constantly playing records and dancing around the house while she took care of me. She listened to everything, the Rolling Stone, the Beatles, Sly and the Famliy Stone, Soul Train on the TV, disco, you name it... chances are I heard it growing up. My Father is also a ridiculously talented multi­ instrumental singer/songwriter who played and sang in a bluegrass band while I was growing up. So, the house was always filled with music, rock from Mom, bluegrass from Dad. I started playing harmonica somewhere around 4, and then briefly tried mandolin. I really got started in earnest at 11 or 12, learning to play the guitar. I started acoustically, with my Dad teaching me everything he could. I progressed pretty rapidly in the flatpicking genre, but eventually got interested in more rock and punk music, so I transitioned over to electric probably around 15 or 16. I played in bands through high-school, even played bass and timpani for the school's stage band. I got serious about music after moving to Toronto to go to Dental School. I played with a band, Scissors For Erica, for the next three years.We even reunited in November 2023 to play a benefit concert to raise money for a memorial bench for the original bass played who sadly passed away the previous summer. I started being interested in building my own instruments in or around 2017. I saw a relic'd Strat hanging in a local store and loved everything about it except the price. I thought, I could probably make it cheaper than that (wrong!!!), and so that started me down this whole wonderful rabbit-hole. Headfirst!​

 

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6.)      What have you gained from your relationship with Texas Toast...both inside and outside of the guitar world? This is a hard question for me to answer, not because I don't know what to say, but more because I'm not really sure I can convey how I feel with just words . I found the TTG  Youtube channel  just before the beginning of  the  worst  chapter in my life. My late Wife was  diagnosed  with  stage 3 lung cancer  in  2018, and  I  started  to use the process of building guitars as a stress release . My wife was incredibly encouraging, we met through my love of bluegrass music at a friends summertime bonfire jam session . After she passed away I was in a very dark place mentally, and I couldn't really see much point in trying to carry on without her. Honestly, the weekly Live videos, and the people I got to chat with on them, including Matt, and Chris, Jim, Dave, Doug and so many others really saved me. It gave me something to look forward to, as strange as that might sound. I had a loving, supportive family surrounding me, but they were all a connection to past and my wife. The TTG community was something that was completely new to me, no triggers for my grief, only new friends with a common hobby. So, for me, when I say that the community is my favorite part  of  being  included in the TTG family, I'm being very truthful. Sure, I've learned a staggering amount from Chris and Matt over these past few years, I've even been able to take what I've learned and use it to building my own instruments completely from scratch in my own workshop. It's truly incredible to have such great mentors, but it's the friendship, the sense of inclusion, that helped pull me out of my downward trajectory. It might sound weird, but they probably saved my life.

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7.)      Do you own Texas Toast Guitars? What made you buy?   I currently have 4 instruments from Texas Toast Guitars in my collection, and one more on order. I was drawn to the brand by Matt and Chris themselves. I wanted to own a piece of what they stood for. They're so unpretentious, despite the obvious talent they both have. I chose the instruments I've bought because they were all one of a kind, or prototypes, or incredibly unique in some way. I have a one-off Limba Challenger, an older Gray St. era Les Paul style guitar, an American Icon prototype with Rosewood back and sides and a Charlie Christian pickup, and a Green Paisley Fabric-Top finished Soul Pole PJ bass. I'm just waiting for my JJJ 1957 Stratocaster tribute to be completed. When Chris and Matt announced they were going to be recreating Jim's original '57 Strat I had to have one of my own, made by Matt and Chris, with Dylan's pickups, and signed by Jim. I can't think of a cooler guitar to have in my collection. It's a faithful recreation of the best Stratocaster I've ever played, made by my friends and mentors, and signed by one of the best human beings I kn ow. It just doesn't get more meaningful than that. It's all about the connection to the instrument for me, the story of who brought it into being, and my connection to them through the instrument . I'm slowly paring my collection down to only include instruments that have that connection to. Instruments that were built by my hands, or by the hands of people I know.

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8.)      Parting words? Texas Toast Guitars is really so much more that a boutique guitar shop, so much more than the heirlooms they make everyday. It's really the epicenter of a beautifully diverse and supportive community of people that all share a love of the process of turning wood and dreams into reality, a love of the instruments, and ultimately love for each other. It's a beautiful family to be part of.​