A winding journey led Chaplin to a career where craftsmanship, community, and music come together
Over the years, State College has grown into an artist’s playground, bringing some of the world’s best musicians to Happy Valley. This global inspiration keeps the growth of Centre County’s music scene consistent, and it helps keep business steady for local luthier Mark Chaplin, the town’s resident instrument repairman.
Chaplin serves Happy Valley with a nimble-fingered obsession, taking apart his favorite instruments to help put them back together better in the comfort of his own home. Well-versed in his craftsmanship, Chaplin is unafraid to share how his journey led him into such unique artistry.
Chaplin’s parents owned a bar, and that’s where his love for picking things apart and welding them back together began. An Altoona native, he went from ice machine repair to trailer park management in Appalachian country before making one of the biggest decisions of his life. “I fled, and I spent my first night here in State College with $20 to my name, and I slept in my VW Beetle with no job,” Chaplin reminisces. “I had gone to guitar building school in 1981 out of desperation.”
Learning multiple instruments throughout his youth sparked Chaplin’s interest in instrument repair. “Anything that made music, I picked it up and tried to make music,” Chaplin says. “I tried playing the piano, and I tried playing the banjo, and my sister brought a guitar home. She was playing it at mass, and as soon as I picked it up, it’s like, ‘Yeah, this is it.’”
Getting into guitar craftsmanship was in Chaplin’s bones, even if it took a winding road for him to get there. As soon as he found his calling, he never looked back, something best exemplified in the local Daily Collegian article announcing his 1992 visit to St. Petersburg, Russia, to present live instrument repairs. Connecting with fellow luthiers gave Chaplin his chance to travel overseas and build more connections, whether on a trip to Romania’s instrument factory or during personal travel with family.
While investigating his adopted daughter’s roots in Switzerland, Chaplin crossed paths with a fellow luthier. “I found this guy in Lucerne who’s just the Swiss version of me. He repairs guitars and woodwinds. … And we spoke for an hour and a half,” Chaplin says. “It’s neat to travel around. This is such a niche market, and once in a while, I’ll find someone, and we can connect.”
Now, with over 30 years of instrument repair under his belt, Chaplin looks back at his journey with joy, glad over the steps he took to bring his artistic passions to light. Being in State College has brought him the business to keep instrument repair his full-time job, whether as a local music store owner from 1986 to 1993 or as the homebound craftsman Centre County musicians trust.
“My shop resembles the aftermath of a hand grenade thrown into a music store,” Chaplin says, describing his workshop. “Thousands of sad instruments have found their voices again right here.” His work has included emergency service for Billy Joel’s sax player and other nationally known musicians, including Deftones, Shawn Colvin, Billy Bragg, and Blind Boys of Alabama. He even recalls having to decline work for Roger Waters because he was “up to my eyeballs in promises already made.” But Chaplin emphasizes that it’s the local music scene he values most.
“I get a hoard of people knocking on my door,” Chaplin says, and his services speak for themselves. “I actually had a lady about 25 years ago break into my house and leave me an emergency flute repair.”
Although an integral part of the State College music scene, Chaplin stresses that he’s purely here to help local Happy Valley musicians shine. “The musicians who trust me are the ones who represent Centre County. Hopefully, my work as a sort of stagehand makes it easier for them to do so.” Describing State College as the “perfect place for misfits,” Chaplin’s made the town home alongside his family. He’s grateful for his wife’s role at the post office and the opportunity to be a stay-at-home dad to his daughter.
“I love the anonymity of my work,” Chaplin adds. “Every time I walk out in my parlor and have 74 instruments waiting for my time, I realize I’ve done something with my life.”
For Chaplin, his artistic work is what brings him the fulfilling, full-circle moments of community he’s always looking for. With a wide smile on his face, Chaplin shared amazing memories of twice-repaired saxophones for a client and his son, as well as spotting a State High clarinet player at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts who received her first repair from him years prior.
“Something that I think a lot of people don’t get about repair work is that it spills over into everyday life … problem solving that has absolutely nothing to do with fixing a thing,” Chaplin wisely states. “Just fixing life, making life, fine-tuning life [is important] because you have to be able to evaluate problems.”
Those same problem-solving skills allowed Chaplin to fine-tune his own life, making his instrumental passions part of his everyday life. Chaplin’s craftsmanship may be unique, but it’s a path every artist can look to for inspiration.
“The best advice I’d give to young people is, just don’t look back,” Chaplin says. “All of a sudden, you’ll wake up one day like me. I’m 70. I’ve been doing only this for the last 33 years; it’s like, ‘Where has the time gone?’ But I mean that in a good way.
For so many people, life is this dreadful slog of demands, and they hate their work, but they’re getting paid a lot for it. You have to find that happiness within yourself, and, most importantly, you have to do something that benefits other people.”
For your instrument repair needs, go to Chaplin, and you’ll find a slice of artistic inspiration from a veteran luthier marching to the beat of his own drum. By fine-tuning life’s rhythm, Chaplin keeps the melodic instruments humming for State College musicians old and new. T&G
Angelique Redwood is a freelance writer based in State College.
