Andrew LaBonte, of Milford, not only makes beautiful music, he makes beautiful musical string instruments.

“I studied music in college,” he said, speaking of the University of Vermont. “I actually studied to be a composer and still do compose music…”

“… Which pays zero,” he deadpanned.

LaBonte used to make custom-made picture frames and created large installations for Boston art galleries.

“That allowed me to work out of the house when my daughter was young,” he shared. “Now, my daughter herself is in college studying music. So, for the past few years, I have been freer to do what I want.”

After college, LaBonte moved to Boston and was employed making harpsichords, which are similar to pipe organs and often feature more than one keyboard.

“I have sort of always had my hand in woodworking,” he said. “I finally allowed myself to do guitars, building electric and acoustic guitars. I do repair work on most stringed instruments.”

LaBonte said that while he teaches guitar, his first instrument, he is multi-instrumentational.

“I also teach bass and piano,” he said. “Part of a formal music education is that you have to have a facility in piano. Particularly as a composer, there is a high standard for that.”

In the mornings, LaBonte said he is either doing repair work or building guitars of his own.

“Then, I head into the studio in the afternoon and teach until 7 or 8 o’clock at night.”

As a student himself, LaBonte played at the famous Waterworks restaurant in Vermont.

“It was in Winooski,” he said. “In a beautiful, old mill that overlooked an old hydro-electric dam. I played classical brunch there on Sunday mornings, for some time. It covered the rent, but I never enjoyed being a performer. I would rather teach, and compose and do my guitars.”

LaBonte shared that he still has close friends from high school and college who still play out.

“It was never anything that I lived for,” he added.

LaBonte called himself a New Hampshire transplant and lamented about the classical music scene in the area.

“I do enjoy live blues,” he shared. “I’ve been to Tupelo a number of times, and to Bull Run as well. There were very specific people that I wanted to see.”

LaBonte said that he’s not sure why there’s such a lack of the classics in southern New Hampshire.

“When my daughter was in public school, she was taking lessons from a very good teacher outside of town, to prepare for her auditions for her own music school admission,” he said. “I asked him – why it was that there were not any string programs in New Hampshire schools, whereas in Vermont, even the smallest elementary school in the state had a string program. Even then, the music teacher only comes in once a week for violin lessons. There doesn’t seem to be a willingness to fund really good arts programs in New Hampshire.”

His friend answered that there was a marching band and a chorus, “because it was mandated,” said LaBonte with a laugh. “The only time that people see the band is if their kid is in it, and they go to the concerts or go to the parade or attend the football games. I don’t know. There’s not a strong need among the voters here.”

LaBonte said when he grew up in Vermont, “it was vibrant.”

“I grew up in the 1970s in Vermont,” he said. “Our music program was incredible. We had an orchestra. We had several bands. A chorus, and music theatre, all in the high school. And fine teachers.”

His hometown was small – 1,500 residents.

“And of them, there were probably a dozen people from my graduating class that became performers or teachers,” he said. “Three of my friends became professional musicians.”

LaBonte said he knows many music teachers in Massachusetts as well.

“They’re astonishingly equipped,” he said. “In Townsend, they even have a recording studio. Amazing. This is the middle school. They have 20 or 30 guitars hanging on the wall. They teach sound production. They have a drum kit in the studio – in the 7th and 8th grade.”

“It’s funded, and parents are interested and the kids can get interested,” LaBonte said. “And where my daughter goes to school in New York, there is a New York state school music association, and they have standardized the music program for the entire state. The acronym is NYSMA. They have all this standardized stuff. Even buying instrument, what grade-level piece should a sixth-grader be playing. It’s all catalogued and the funding they get is incredible.”