Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DeTemple began repairing and maintaining a wide range of stringed instruments at the age of 13.
He began hanging out at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, where he came into contact with a number of luminaries in the folk and blues genres including Taj Mahal, Doc Watson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Clarence White, and Jesse Ed Davis.
In 1966, Academy Award winning composer, Earl Robinson invited him to play in the "Winterfest Concerto for Five String Banjo and Orchestra" with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Lawrence Foster and later with Elmer Bernstein.
Danko discovered his guitar work when DeTemple joined in on a jam session in the studio with Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, and Ron Wood.
DeTemple is said to employ the "esoteric" centuries-old method of tap-tuning the woods he uses in his creations,[5] although it is unclear whether or not the process is effective for non-acoustic instruments.