He received photos of his new baby, just as a parent would view pictures of a new child. This wasn’t a baby as most people would think but instead was a beautifully built custom guitar.

Mark Waddington, Sidney, waited patiently to see the new photos weekly or to visit Sam Hould in Miles City to see the progression of the new guitar as it came to life. Waddington would get so excited as his cell phone would make the sound as new photos were coming across the airwaves from 124 miles down the road.

He isn’t new to a love of music or a new set of strings. Waddington’s mother played piano and sang, and he grew up in a house that always had music in it. As Waddington got older, his brother and sister played, and soon he followed their footsteps. “I knew when I was very young that I wanted to play,” he said. “I told mom I wanted to play cornet, so when she brought it home in the case I had to open it up to see if it was the instrument I thought it was.” He was in fourth grade at the time and later graduated to the trumpet.

Waddington performed in middle and high school band, became a music major in college and went on to play for the U.S. Army band from 1976 to 1979. He toured Europe with an 18-piece band.

“I played music for eight years to make a living,” Waddington said. “I came back from Europe, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.”

He heard an ad on the radio to be a radio announcer that said, “You supply the desire – We’ll supply the license and the training.” So, Waddington thought he’d do that for a while, and that was 35 years ago. “I’m still doing ‘that’ (radio work) for a while.” He works for Power 95/Cherry Creek Radio in marketing.

There was a short period after the Waddingtons married that money was a little tight for the family. He didn’t do any music for five to seven years. He knew that someday he wanted to learn how to play guitar well.

“In about the year 2000, I began to really learn how to play,” Waddington said. “I had multiple guitars, but each guitar didn’t have everything I wanted.” There are a lot of great guitars out there, he said, and Waddington likes some of the things about all of them, but he’s never found one that had all of the features he wanted. Ever since his enjoyment in music began, Waddington has wanted to know how to make quality instruments.

When Waddington used to talk about how instruments were made and supposed to sound, most people would get bored with his conversations, but not Sam Hould. Hould, Miles City, used to build guitars at Gibson Guitar in Bozeman, and then he began his own workshop.

“I heard about Sam Hould, and one night Vicki and I went to open mic night at the Elks Club in Miles City where Sam happened to be on stage before me,” Waddington said. “I followed him back to the so-called ‘green room’, and I got a look at his custom built guitar. It was beautiful! I asked him to build a guitar for me that night. I went back out to Vicki and told her I’d done a bad thing. What she tells people to this day is to never let Sam and I together.” That began the Hould and Waddington journey as friends.

“We were like to two little kids in a candy store because we’d get excited about how the different woods would sound together, along with everything that went into the making of a great guitar,” he said. Humidity control was also a big concern, but that was taken care of in the guitar case with the humidity staying between 40-60-percent.

Waddington wanted a six-string that would sound good unplugged or plugged in. He’d sit in guitar stores for hours and play to find that right sound. “A good guitar will speak to you,” he said.

After detailing exactly what Waddington wanted in his custom-built guitar with Hould, the Honey Locust wood guitar body, the Engelmann Spruce top, the pre-amp electronics, a clear pick guard with gold tuners, bone, this giddy, new “father” went to Miles City to pick up the sixth guitar made in Hould’s custom guitar workshop.

“I got the guitar just before Easter. He (Hould) had over 200 hours into this guitar,” Waddington said. “It was a very exciting journey. This guitar is a work of art. I’ve got my dream guitar, and I really can’t say I want another one. It was meeting Sam, it was the journey of it all – that was the highlight of this custom-built guitar. The other thing that was so extraordinary to me is the fact that my wife told me I could go play with Sam – it was an exciting process. The more I play that guitar, the more I enjoy it! This one is a joy to own.”

If anyone is interested in hearing Waddington play, visit Lonsdale Methodist Church or Richey United Methodist for Sunday services – he will likely play for morning worship.

homespun@sidneyherald.com