Jim George picks up the resonator guitar from its black case and plucks at its strings. As he slides his fingers up and down its neck, the green metal instrument comes to life with a soulful tune.

"Now listen to this one," the former Central High School history teacher says as he grabs an acoustic guitar from its case and strikes the first chord. "Notice that difference?"

Seven more instruments lean up against a bookcase in his study - each part of a larger collection - many of which this St. Joseph resident has made himself.

Mr. George has always been interested in making things. He says he inherited his love of craftsmanship from his dad, a mechanic and garage owner. But it was his love of music that got him started. He wasn't even out of high school before he tried his hand at creating his first guitar.

"I'm left-handed, so I put the strings on the other way, which was a mistake of course," he admits. "But it's a mistake that Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney made, too."

Pretty soon, he set that project aside, realizing he didn't have what it took to tackle the tedious work. It wasn't until later that he finally honed his attention to detail.

"When I was a kid, the last thing I was interested in was the small work," he admits. "I'd make a motorbike with a motor on the back and have it running with a string. I wouldn't get around to putting a throttle on it. As soon as it ran, that was it. No brakes or anything."

Now, Mr. George realizes the beauty in his father's philosophy that "anyone can fix it with the right parts." He says it's a matter of getting something up and running using the resources you have.

And this music man uses all kinds of resources, including the hood of a riding lawn mower to make the green metal resonator.

"Since then, I've made one entirely out of bleacher seats," he explains. "I had to get the gum off the bottom, but it's a piece of wood that's dried nicely."

Guitars aren't his only passion. Mr. George also makes guns, furniture and is in the middle of a home-remodeling project. His wife, Sheryl, says she's amazed at what all he has taught himself to do in their 41 years of marriage.

"He's always got books piled around him," she laughs. "There are little clutter piles of books and papers everywhere all the time, but he always gets that cleaned up and heads on to the next project."

That next project looks like it's going to be another musical instrument - a stomp-box. He saw a fiddler using one in Hannibal, Mo., and just couldn't resist trying to figure out how to make one himself.

"He had a board that he kept tamping that had a cord that went to this amplifier," he explains. "It sounded like he had a whole bass section, so I am going to try to make one."

And as all history teachers know, history has a way of repeating itself. Don't ever count out making another guitar.

"It seems like the ones I've rebuilt from a piece of junk, or the ones that I have made, often are the ones that I end up playing," he says. "Once you get it working, then you've got ownership, but if you're making a guitar from scratch, that's the ticket."

Lifestyles reporter Tamara Clymer can be reached at tami.clymer@npgco.com.