At the heart of many of the world’s musical instruments is the same, simple component—a string stretched tight between two points. Plucked, bowed, or struck, each of an instrument’s strings creates ...

Don’t fret. Benjamin Williams can repair that coveted string instrument for you. The gifted luthier, after years working out of his home, has settled in nicely to the Old Town neighborhood of Mankato.

Origins: “My family was musical, and we grew up playing country and bluegrass and folk music, and I was interested in taking apart instruments,” KiLin Reece says about growing up in Bonny Doon, ...