Authorship: Big Chief Tablet Meets Macintosh Keyboard
I tried to write my first book when I was ten years old. It was a brief effort of five or six handwritten pages on a Big Chief tablet with a number 2 pencil, but I loved the idea of putting ideas on paper. That first story started out pretty well; the Cold War good-guy spy came smashing in through a large plate glass window, machine gun blazing at the evil bad guys. I knew there should be a love interest for this good-guy spy, but I had yet to unravel the mysteries of women. And I had no idea what the hero was going to say after his dramatic entrance, so that was it. In the days before recycling paper, I ripped out the pages of my story and tossed them in the trash. But I never lost that desire to write.
I can remember girls in junior high taking typing classes, back in the days of selective preparation for the then-obvious career choices. I could hear the clack-clack of manual keyboard keys slapping down on onionskin paper as the girls readied themselves for jobs as secretaries. I had no interest in learning how to type, that was, like Home Economics class, for girls. I took wood and metal shop instead, guy stuff. In reality, also selective preparation—for the trades.
I didn't learn how to type in college either, when I used an old Royal manual, with more steel in it than my present Honda automobile, to type my assignments. But I began to write poetry and essays and struggled through bonehead English composition class, being sent there by my first professor who was amazed I had made it through high school with the language skills I obviously missed out on. At one time I had been able to diagram a sentence, on a real black-slate chalkboard with real chalk with mounds of chalk dust in the eraser tray. But unused skills die as did my composition comprehension.
(photo courtesy: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/140/346787558_e1c68ae4db_o.jpg)
Now I'd kill to know how to type, even trying a teach-yourself CD computer course with no luck. So I stare at the letters on my computer keyboard and with a four-finger technique manage to wring tens of thousands of words out of my mind.
I started writing "sea stories," tales of my Navy days, back in the mid 1990s, as well as poems focused on my perceptions as a veteran. In 1997 I visited Vietnam with a veteran's tour group, and discovered that it took a trip of 14,000 miles to find out aspects of myself that were revealed through the experience. I learned the truism that the journey is the destination. This trip led to my first compilation of essays, titled Crossing the South China Sea.
An acquaintance suggested I put my sea tales into a book and I balked at the thought. "What, me write a book? No way, I can't do that." But support and encouragement from Karen and writing friends brought me to the intimidating keyboard, and I began to write Steel Beach in earnest. I ended up with a 164,000 word first draft, or about 656 pages. I found that I had to write down everything I could remember of those years, even if the manuscript needed a good third of that edited out for it to be readable. I guess it was; I was fortunate enough to have it selected as a finalist in the 2007 Oregon Book Awards. There is more on Steel Beach found at the link above, as well as in the reviews section.
Planet Chemo: Confessions of a Self-contained Man is my most recent completed manuscript. It is a gritty, hard-hitting story of my struggle with cancer and triumph over it, for now. The sustaining thought I came away with as I left chemotherapy and looked forward to becoming strong once again—to be strong to heal and to prepare—was that it is not how much life I have left, it is how I live what life I have. Using the metaphor of a space journey to a hostile world, I take the reader into the harsh yet enlightening world of fighting cancer. Planet Chemo is currently being submitted to agents and hopefully it will find a home with a publisher.
My next manuscript is tentatively titled Happy Valley. It will be my first attempt at a novel, loosely based on the years spent on my family's Wyoming ranch. Song of the West is the seed from which the story will grow. I'm looking forward to writing about what might have been.

Current News
- January 2025
- Jeff has new photos posted of his recent works (Photos). His Seraphin model violin of 2024 has sold. He has started the next two violins, shop record numbers 97 and 98, which will be gifted to close family members.
- February 2024
- Jeff recently sold one of his favorite violas to a deserving young player in the Corvallis area. He has completed this year's viola entry for the annual Thomas Metzler contemporary American violin and bow maker exhibition and sale in Glendale, California in March.
- He will also be placing one of his Sanctus Seraphin model violins in The Denver Violin Shop, near where he studied viola performance in the late 1970s, at the University of Northern Colorado. He currently has a 16.5" viola of his own design available. This instrument is bold in model and sound, with a delightful range of tonal colors.
- He is also pursuing his studies of the Arabic oud, an ancient, 11 stringed instrument which predates the lute and guitar. Fretless like the violin family of instruments, it is plucked like a guitar. It has a unique sound more familiar to the Middle East and has cultural expressions from Iran to Greece, Armenia, Turkey, north Africa and beyond. Jeff seeks to find his own voice with this challenging instrument.
- He will also be placing one of his Sanctus Seraphin model violins in The Denver Violin Shop, near where he studied viola performance in the late 1970s, at the University of Northern Colorado. He currently has a 16.5" viola of his own design available. This instrument is bold in model and sound, with a delightful range of tonal colors.
- January 2023
- Jeff has recently sold a viola he made in 1992 that had returned to his shop. He finished a 16.5” viola of his own design and will complete a violin based on his 1747 Sanctus Seraphin pattern soon. Both the 16.5” viola and violin will be entered in the 6th annual instrument exhibition and sale at the Tom Metzler violin shop in Los Angeles, California, in late March. The exact date and link the exhibit will follow soon.
- August 2021
- Jeff is currently working on a 16 1/4" viola based on an Andrea Guarneri (1623-1698) pattern. Jeff is using northwest woods aged over 25 years in this instrument.
- April 2021
- Jeff has recently completed his cancer treatments and is back in remission once again. Over the winter he completed a 17″ Maggini model viola and is currently finishing a 15 1/2″ Studio Model viola of his own design. Jeff is working with a woodcutter in Slovakia to obtain large, one-piece viola backs with dramatic figure and character for future works. He will also be visiting a regional woodcutter this summer to hand select interesting woods.
- July 2020
- Jeff's book Steel Beach is now available as a Kindle e-book at Amazon's Kindle Store.
Steel Beach e-book - June 2020
- Jeff was recently diagnosed with a lymphoma relapse and is undergoing chemothereapy treatments to get it under control. Details will be forthcoming on his Living with Cancer page. He has completed the Betts model violin and will finish the Seraphin model violin soon. He will be taking temporary leave of his workbench until he's past chemotherapy and able to concentrate and do the quality of work he expects of himself.
- March 2020
- Jeff recently completed a 16 1/8" viola, which is entered in the Metzler Violin Shop's Fourth Annual Contemporary American Makers Exhibition, in Glendale, California. Photos of this viola can be seen in the instrument picture gallery. Jeff is also finishing up a Studio Model violin patterned after the Betts Stradivari of 1704, and will have a violin on his popular Sanctus Seraphin model ready this summer.
- September 2018
- The Oregon Folklife Network invited Jeff to join a discussion panel on musical traditions being practiced in the area. It will be held at Troubadour Music in Corvallis on Friday September 7th at 7:30 pm.
- August 2018
- Jeff was recently commissioned to write a short piece for the nationally distributed Vietnam Veterans of America magazine. It will appear on the Parting Shot page in the upcoming issue.
- April 2018
- Northwest Musical Instrument Exhibit: Saturday and Sunday, April 28th & 29th, 2018 Marylhurst University, Lake Oswego, Oregon.
- Feburary 2018
- Jeff will be entering his latest viola in the Thomas Metzler Violin Shop's contemporary instrument exhibition and sale taking place in Los Angeles, March 23-26. Violas will be played by a member of the L.A. Philharmonic at 4 p.m. on March 25th
- July 2017
- The 17" Maggini modeled viola is sold and Jeff recently finished a 15" viola of his own design and it is now available. He also has his Sanctus Seraphin patterned violin from 2006 back in his shop. This violin was exhibited in the Library of Congress that year as part of the American Federation's participation in "The American violin, from Jefferson to jazz" event.
- September 2016
- Jeff recently sold a violin based on a 1704 Stradivari as well as a 15 7/8" viola of his own design. He has started two new violas, one on the popular 15 7/8" pattern and one on his 16 1/8" pattern. He expects them to be completed by spring.
- April 2016
- Northwest Musical Instrument Exhibit: Saturday and Sunday, April 30th & May 1st, 2016 Marylhurst University,
near Portland, Oregon. Map - March 2016
- Jeff just completed a 17" viola based on a Maggini pattern from the late 1500's.
Inquire for price and availability. - April 2015
- Instrument Show Northwest Musical Instrument Exhibit: Saturday and Sunday, April 25th & 26th, 2015 Marylhurst University, near Portland, Oregon.
- January 2015
- Jeff was interviewed by the University of Oregon's school of jounalism for their series Northwest Stories: Violin Maker Jeff Manthos Violin Video link
- Jeff is completing a 16 1/2" Da Salo model viola which will be available soon. His next instrument is a 15 3/4" viola on his own pattern, which will be ready by late spring.
Contact information
Street: 2635 SW Fairmont DriveCity/State: Corvallis, OR 97333
Phone: 541-754-7645
E-mail: jeff@jeffleemanthos.com