Skip Helms was born in 1953, and attended San Diego State University. He became a member of the Guild of American in 1996. For many years he has combined guitar making with Wealth Management. Skip lived in Santa Fe, NM for some years, and was associated with Zia Guitars for a period. Since 1999 he has lived in Asheville, NC. where in addition to his financial work, he occasionally built guitars. Since 2012 he has run Helms Wealth Management, although he plays steel string guitar, he builds mostly classical and jazz guitars.

I have personally played and inspected this guitar. It is very well-made, and has a number of nice touches including a 12-hole bridge, sound port, and Gilbert machine tuners. The guitar has been well-taken care of. There are no cracks, no previous repairs, and no structural repairs needed. The neck is straight as an arrow.  The French polish is dull in places, and there are some light scratches, consistent with normal wear -- nothing particularly deep and most should easily be covered with a refresh of its French polish. The quality of tone is what one expects in a concert guitar, nicely polished trebles with good body, balanced against rich deep basses. The set up is ideal for jazz, low fast, being 3mm and 2mm at the 12th fret on first and sixth strings respectively.