Daniel Roberts worked for the Flatiron Banjo and Mandolin Company in 1989 (which had been aquired two years earlier by Gibson). Roberts became rear plant production manager before the new Gibson factory was opened in Bozeman, Montana. At this point Roberts decided the large factory was not for him and in 1991 he went to work for the Santa Cruz Guitar Company in California. While working for SCGC, he lived in Santa Cruz, CA for 6 years, but then returned to Montana, and continued to be employed by them for the next 11 years while working out of his own shop. Roberts built their archtop guitars, did design of new models, and accomplished most of the warranty repair for the company. He spent 17 years with SCGC and acquired an international reputation as a luthier. He started his own company Daniel Roberts Stringworks in 2008. Initially he was performing repair and restorations, specializing in prewar Martin and Gibson instruments. But he also began building his own line of acoustic guitars that became so sucessful that he rarely does restoration work anymore.

Source: Daniel Roberts Stringworks website (4 November 2019)