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Chris Bakkenchrisside2

Barbara Streisand, Taylor Hicks and Chris Bakken. Think they having nothing in common? Think again.

Published 6/20/10

The bass guitars used by the musicians in Ms. Streisand and Mr. Hick’s bands were designed and built by Nordstrand Guitars outside of Los Angeles. The connection? One of Nordstrands’s top woodworkers happens to be Southeast Technical College Graduate, Chris Bakken.

His passion for playing the guitar and his desire to build one, led Chris to his enrollment in the Southeast Technical Music Instrument Repair Program and with good reason. It is one of the few schools in the country offering guitar building and repair programs. The training Chris received afforded him the opportunity to build guitars from scratch, which worked in harmony with his love of woodworking.

Chris’s education at Southeast Tech was instrumental in helping him realize his dream and achieve his success. He started by first picturing the possibilities of what this life could be like. What kind of possibilities do you picture in yours?