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Hi, Charlie Jirousek was a luthier originally from Duluth Minnesota, who started Arrowhead Music back in the 1960s. He later moved to Safety Harbor FL and spent another 30+ years making and repairing stringed instruments out of his home and workshop. Charlie passed away a year ago in January of 2020. His family recently hired my estate sale company to liquidate the contents of Charlies house and workshop. Both are filled to the max with tonewoods, tools, instruments, and various antiques, etc. I will be taking hundreds of pictures soon and making the online ads for the sale. Just wanted to let people know and see if anyone knew or remembered Charlie. He spent a lifetime in the business and was very passionate about it, his friends and family said. He even made a custom guitar for Bob Dylan who also had ties to Minnesota. In eleven years of conducting estate sales, I have to admit this is my first time handling the estate of a luthier. I will be reaching out to some of the large luthier companies regarding all the tonewoods, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to let me know and I will do my best to answer them, although please keep in mind I have no prior knowledge in this field to answer specifics, but if you have any general questions, just let me know. Again, once I get the ads posted online, then I will share the link if allowed in here. There is an immense amount of materials including the tonewoods, tools, and hundreds of stringed instruments.

Triplett..... Are you related to Steve Triplett, who used to build and repair in Wichita, KS before moving to the great northwest?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Hi Danny,
Lutherie materials can vary all over the place depending on the species of wood and the cut. If you are not familiar with them you might do well to consult with someone who is, so his heirs can receive a fair value for his estate. A single back and side set can be valued anywhere from $50 to several thousand depending on the cut and species of the wood. People on this forum might be able to help you identify some of the higher value items, both materials and instruments, and point you to potential markets for them. Collectively we have a pretty good knowledge base.
A music store I used to visit had a sign on the counter which read "If someone got something for nothing, then someone got nothing for something" It is up to you to make sure that doesn't happen.

Will the sale be conducted online?

The sale will be posted online as far as the dates address and hundreds of pics, and anyone can call the number in the ad once the 4-day sale begins and ask questions or purchase items over the phone with a credit card, but since there are thousands of items, they will not be individually posted with prices to purchase directly online.

Posted where? ebay? Auction site?

Both on our website and our FaceBook business page called Full House Liquidation. Our website is www.FullHouseLiq.com

May he rest in peace and hopefully that wood that he loved and took care of for so long will one day make a special guitar for someone to pass on through a generation.

One way to honor his legacy would be to offer his woods to the individual luthier community as a whole first, instead of big companies. If there are any precious woods, such as Brazilian Rosewood, that are hard to come by for the small time folks, it would be a great benefit to all and would ensure one of a kind instruments are made of it instead of boring factory guitars. Just my suggestion.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier

Larger companies will also be offering the lowest prices for materials. They are used to getting things at extreme discounts.... as I learned from a large local slab re-seller who was trying to work out a supply agreement with a certain manufacturer. In the end they were trying to get 1/4" thick, surfaced and book-matched sets of EIR for $20. That ended the negotiations quickly.

That is not surprising. Not too many years ago some retailers were selling lower grade EIR back and side sets for $35 a set. Those same sets are now over $100 a set. The higher quality sets that retailed for $60 are now bringing $200+.
Other species, especially the more valuable rosewoods have skyrocketed in value way beyond what could be expected through inflation.
Selling as a large lot is certainly more expedient, but will only bring 1/10 of the market value.


On a related note, my wife has asked me to make a list of the instruments I've accumulated over the years, and their values, so in the event of my demise she will have some idea of their worth. If we weren't on good terms, I might be worried about this.

Yeah well maybe it's just YOU who thinks you are on good terms

Here's what I do, I write directly on the wood where I got it, the date, and how much I paid for it. I told my wife don't charge at least anything under that amount. In theory well aged wood should cost more.