Luthier: Someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. From the French word "luth" (lute).

I f you haven't met them yet, I hope you will soon: Joe Patrick and Gail Gwin.

This week and next, we'll be introducing them to you through two feature stories. Mine about Gail's print- making art runs this week in the Touchet Valley Life section (see page 7). Larry Davidson's piece about Joe's instrument shop will be in the Times next week, but I couldn't resist giving you a preview.

The couple moved to Waitsburg from Whidbey Island last fall and just com- pleted the construction of their "Orchard Street Studio."

Last week, when my wife Karen was here with me in town, we went over to the couple's house for a bite to eat. Before we could return home, Joe persuaded me to leave my Taylor 514CE and let him take care of her.

This electric-acoustic cutaway is probably one of the finest things I own. I bought it a decade ago for a hand- some but worthwhile sum of money and have treated it like a baby ever since. My son Niko, who has been learning how to play, gets to practice on it with my super- vision. I rarely let it out of my sight, let alone out of my house, so surrendering it to Joe was a leap of faith.

I should have never had any reservations about it. Almost immediately after we left town to meet Niko back on Bainbridge Island following a backpacking trip in Idaho, Joe acquainted himself with my baby.

And when I returned on Sunday, it was like she was reborn and with it, my longing to play her.

I go in spurts as a musician. When I ran the coffee shop and we did open mikes and concerts, I practiced regularly with Dr. Kyle Terry, a wonderfully resourceful and imaginative musician and singer.

But the past six months have been crazy busy and only Niko has had time to play the Taylor, leaving me with a mere fancy. Joe loved the guitar, did his research and got to know her better in three days than I did in 10 years.

After a decade of benign neglect, he noted that several of her frets were worn and the fingerboard was dry and dirty. The action seemed on the high side and the string heights were uneven at the nuts.

You're probably wonder- ing what all that means and why it matters. But anything that's made of wood and met- al changes over time from wear, tear and even weather. He went so far as to adjust the humidity of my guitar case by turning his blow dryer on it. From the very slight swell- ing of the Western Red Cedar top, he could tell my guitar resides mostly on the west side of the Cascades.

His list of adjustments was as long as it was im- pressive: truss rod tension adjustment; leveled, crowned and polished frets; cleaned and oiled the fingerboard; graphite lubed the nut slots, tightened loose machine heads; replaced the strings and polished the body.

When I sat down to play her after so many months and so much of Joe's care, she felt like a completely differ- ent companion and she fully lived up to the product name Taylor gave her: the Grand Auditorium.

I ask you: How often does marketing parlance even ap- proach an instrument's true characteristics?

"Less dense than a spruce top, cedar's warmer, more "blossoming" sound reso- nates with smooth overtones. Coupled with mahogany, it responds well to the subtle nuances of the player."

"Blossoming." Gotta love that word. All skepticism aside, the word did perfectly describe what I was feeling about the sound that came out of her body. She was beautifully light, easy to bar and unusually receptive to chord changes.

I understood what Joe meant when he described what he does to your instrument. He "maximizes" it for the way you play it. And I'm not the only one who appreciates a transformation when he experiences one.

Here is what Bruce Mat- ley, whom we all know as Nevada Slim around here, said about surrendering his beloved instrument to Joe's magical hands:

"Joe," he wrote in a recent email. "Just wanted to say the luthier work you recently did on my treasured Martin HD-28V was beyond ex- pectations - really excellent. My older partner is renewed. Your attention to detail, skill and fair pricing make you a real asset to area musicians. Many thanks."

Joe Patrick and his new dog Preston at the Orchard Street Studio. Read Joe's full profile in next week's Times

Couldn't have said it bet- ter myself.