W. E. "Gene" Milligan began building stringed instruments more than three decades ago. He worked at one time with the legendary NBN Guitars, who built instruments for James Taylor, Stephen Stills, and Leo Kottke during Gene's tenure with them. Since then he has built and repaired a variety of stringed instruments. He has also studied lutherie and repair with such noted figures as Charles Fox and Frank Ford. Gene's son Barry began building classical guitars under Gene's guidance in the early '80s, leading ultimately to the current collaboration between Gene'sshop in Denver and Barry's in Dayton.

Father and son combined have more than half a century's experience as musicians and luthiers and both are both longtime members of the Guild of American Luthiers and the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans. Gene also worked for more than forty years as a professional engineer, thus enabling Milligan & Son to balance tradition and innovation in the design and construction of instruments that are lightweight, balanced, and responsive yet durable.

Gene and Barry build mainly for the love of the craft and the joy of collaboration. This means they produce only a few instruments per year and are able to offer them at a fraction of the cost of higher-profile instruments.

Gene has recently begun building whistles as used in Irish music. They are built using exotic woods for the barrels and Delrin plastic for the mouthpieces. This yields a very playable and durable whistle. These whistles have been very well received."