Jeff and Vonnie Richard own and operate Carondelet. Jeff, Carondelet's pickup winder, is a guitarist of over 40 years and a guitar tech and tinkerer for equally as long. He has trained at the Galloup School of Guitar Building and Repair in Michigan; and the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix.
Carondelet is a subsidiary of The Fret Shack, a fretted instrument repair, resto and upgrade workshop in Baton Rouge, LA. The Fret Shack services around 1,000 instruments annually from across Louisiana and abroad. Visit TheFretShack.com for more on its services; and a list of the companies and products for whom the workshop is an authorized dealer and/or warranty, service and installation center.
"Carondelet"
(cahr-ahn-duh-LET)
Baron Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet (1747-1807) was a Spanish noble
who governed New Orleans during its
Spanish colonial period from 1791 to 1797. Our initial inspiration for using his name
was Carondelet Street, a major thoroughfare
named in the governor's honor that extends
through the "Uptown" Garden District
and Central Business District before
the street's name changes to Bourbon Street. We thought it would be nice to have a classy, upscale sounding name with a direct tie to our nearby and hugely significant American music market.
When further research unearthed
this circa 1790s painting of Baron Carondelet
holding a zebra PAF, we knew he was our guy.