The Whitetop region in southwestern Virginia has a long tradition of fine luthiers. Martha Spencer's uncle Albert Hash was a well-known and respected fiddle maker that shared his knowledge of the craft with countless people. His daughter Audrey Hash Ham learned the fiddle making craft from her father as a teenager and has carried on the tradition since Albert passed in 1983. She has been featured in numerous articles, and radio/television programs such as CMT for her fiddle making.
Jackson Cunningham has been apprenticing under Audrey in the fiddle making tradition of Whitetop for the last two years.

Jackson grew up in southern Oregon and was immersed in woodworking from as early as he can remember. His step-father was a skilled carpenter and craftsman, always having woodworking projects around the house he built from the local sugar pine and Douglas fir trees. Jackson learned these skills at a early age and has been a carpenter and woodworker for over 15 years. So, it was natural to combine his music and his craft to become a luthier.
After making and repairing various instruments over the years, he moved to southwestern Virginia.  After meeting  Audrey Hash Ham of Lansing, North Carolina in 2005, he immediately began building fiddles.
He currently works out of his shop at home in Whitetop, Virginia, making custom fiddles.

You can see and play one of his fiddles at any Whitetop Mountaineers and Whitetop Mountain Band shows as well as displays at festivals. His fiddles have been/are displayed at The Gathering in the Gap Festival in Big Stone Gap,Virginia, Floyd Fest,The Albert Hash Memorial Festival, ASU Fiddlers Convention in Boone, NC, The Wayne C. Henderson Guitar Compitition and Music Festival, as well as others.

For more info on the fiddle making tradition and Jackson's fiddles, email: lonelyoaks@yahoo.com, or call: 540-239-6906

Check out this YouTube video below of Thornton Spencer, Eddie Bond and Kirk Sutphin playing Jackson's fiddles on tour during The Crooked Road
East Coast Tour in spring of 2010

"Because he's a fine bluegrass and old-time musician, Jackson has a natural knowledge of the purpose of a good instrument. He also sees the beauty of the instrument and strives to make a beautiful instrument as well as a usefull one.
The tone and craftsmanship in his fiddles is excellent. He has extreme patience in making sure his fiddles are of the finest quality."    -Audrey Hash Ham, Virginia Master Fiddle Maker

See Audrey Hash Ham,in the book "In Good Keeping", a collection of Master Folk Artists and Aprentices from Virginia by Virginia State Folklorist John Lohman.

Pics

Martha Spencer on The Whitetop Mountain Band plays fellow bandmate Jackson Cunningham's handmade fiddle. Both Martha and Jackson learned there crafts from former masters of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities aprenticeship program.

Fiddles

Front view of #6 "Smokey the Rooster"

"Smokey the Rooster"

Rooster Scroll on #6

Heel carving, Fleur-De-Lis. on #6

Abalone Inlay on the back of #6

Back view of Maple on #6

Fleur-De-Lis Heel carving

Abalone Purfling on front of #6

"Smokey the Rooster" carving on scroll of #6

A Two-Piece Back of Fiddle #5

Front View of #5

#5

Edge detail of #4 fiddle

Back view of Blisterd Sugar Maple Fiddle #4

View of the Belly of #4 Fiddle

Edge Work on #4

One-piece Back on Fiddle #3 made of blistered Sugar Maple

Great looking Quilted Maple on a Hash Pattern

Red Spruce Top on a Amati Pattern

Blistered Sugar Maple Amati Fiddle 3#

#3

Scroll on Fiddle #3

Another view of Scroll #3

A Two-Piece Back on #1

Front View of #1

One-Piece quilted maple back

Front view of a Hand-Carved Scroll

Close up of back on #2

Front view of a Whitetop Spruce Top

Side-View of a Hand-Carved Scroll #2