 He and his friend Frank Hubbard built a clavichord when they were both graduate students; this led to their both deciding to abandon their intended careers as teachers of English and instead to become harpsichord builders, basing their methods on historical principles.They separated for their apprenticeship; Dowd worked at the Detroit workshop of John Challis, who himself had learnt from Arnold Dolmetsch.At this time, Challis was the leading harpsichord builder in the United States.