About Me

My name is Ken Sanderson.   I received my initial electronics education in the United States Air force where I trained as a RADAR maintenance technician.  This was in the 1980's, but my first assignment was on a large 'search' radar built in the 1950's - it was all vacuum tubes!  I was stationed there for three years, loving every minute of it.

After the Air Force I went to work on modern things, eventually finding employment at a major contract repair provider.   I worked there for 19 years, learning the repair business inside out.   I always liked the idea of making something old and useless new and useful again.   I've also had a lifelong passion for audio, studying sound reproduction and collecting and restoring vintage audio.  Though I've owned plenty of modern equipment, I always saw something special in the design, build, style and sound of the old tube gear.

 I always loved building things, but the things I built in the repair industry as a test engineer were necessarily utilitarian, used just as a means to an end and then thrown away or recycled.   After  working for so long for that company I decided to try something different:   What if I were to repair and build things that people would value, something functional but beautiful that they could bring into their homes as a part of their lives, even hand down to their children as heirlooms?   With this in mind I quit my job and signed up for James Bowie's Masterpiece school of Furniture  'Professional' course.   It seemed to me putting woodworking and my 35 years of experience in electronics and vintage audio together was a natural.

It was then that the idea of Lafe Eric Retro-Future Audio Project began to take shape, taking the best from the past and making it relevant to the present.   We are very excited to be not only keeping history alive for future generations, but for being a part of that story as well.