South African luthier Mervyn Davis' interest in instrument building was inspired by his father who started his career by building a mandolin in an Italian prisoner of war camp during Second World War. While studying architecture at the University of Port Elizabeth (1974 - 1978), he started receiving commissions from local musicians to build guitars and other instruments. He was also paid to maintain the instruments belonging to the University's music conservatoire.

After graduating in 1978 he started a career in full time instrument making which was only interrupted by two years military service between 1980 and 1982. Working in relative isolation in South Africa allowed him to develop a unique style of instrument building - as demonstrated in his SmoothTalker guitar. Davis also offers a full range of traditional guitars and other stringed instruments.
Source: Mervyn Davis website (6 March 2017)