AUSTIN, Texas — Tom Ellis loves being surrounded by mandolins. He has several of them in his collection. Ellis’ fascination with the instrument started decades ago.

“When I picked up a mandolin that a friend of mine had, I really loved it, so I decided to get myself a mandolin. This was in 1972. As soon as I did that, I built a copy of it. I had always liked building models when I was a kid; building all sorts of stuff. My dad had a workshop,” Ellis said.

He started his company, Ellis Mandolins, back in the 1970s. These days his wife runs the company, but Ellis still keeps a close eye on every detail.

“The popularity of the mandolin has exploded unbelievably from a microscopic niche to a really tiny niche. It’s a wonderful instrument for playing any kind of music,” said Ellis.

There’s a year-long waiting list for a custom-made mandolin. Ellis used to make them completely by hand, but it wasn’t cost effective. Now he gets some help from machines to streamline the process.

“Once the parts are made, building a mandolin is still all by hand,” said Ellis.

His mandolins don’t come cheap. Some sell anywhere from $16,000 to nearly $20,000 each. Country singer Ricky Skaggs has performed using Ellis’ mandolins. Ellis says has plans to retire one day but has plenty of wood left to make even more beautiful instruments.