Claude Noly is a French luthier who was born in 1966 in Lyon. In 1985 he moved to Buffières where he worked various trades before health problems due to an old accident saw him made redundant. He had an interest in luthiery thanks to a badly fretted Ukulele he made playable for his daughter, and Claude then built 8 of them. Initially self-taught he sought any training he could and with patience and tenacity he learned construction techniques for acoustic and electric instruments - setting up his own workshop in 2013.