Alex Timmerman’s interest in the guitar and mandolin started when he was in his early teens as a player of both instruments. Later, during his studies at the Music High school it quickly grew into a fascination and real research started with reading about- and locating old plucked instruments in museums and private collections. This soon led to the organization of several mandolin and guitar exhibitions and later to a guest curatorship at the Haags Gemeentemuseum (The Hague, Netherlands).