Jennings Chestnut, born in Conway, South Carolina, was an American luthier, specializing in mandolins.
[citation needed] In 1968, he noticed Carl Story's band featured a mandolin when they were in Wilmington for a gig.
He used parts from a five-gallon pickle barrel, old pianos and mother-of-pearl buttons in a laundromat's lost and found.
Chestnut stated in an interview with Caroline Wright that, "I never wanted to be a manufacturer, and the next three I built were always sold [in advance]."
Premiere Bluegrass Weekend is held at Ocean Lakes Campground in Myrtle Beach, SC every year towards the end of the summer.