When the Grammy Awards get underway Wednesday night, one of the people watching proudly in the audience will be the guy who made the awards  literally. Sculptor John Billings, 55, has been hand-making the Grammy statuettes since 1977, and it's turned into a full-time job of casting, grinding, sanding, polishing, gold-plating, assembling and engraving hundreds of miniature gramophones. To make one takes about 15 to 20 hours; to make 365  the estimated number of winners for this year's ceremony  takes up much of his year. "I don't make a lot of money, but I make a living," Billings says. "It's a matter of pride for us  nobody can make a better Grammy than we do."

"We" includes Billings' brother, Larry, and a friend, Harry Harpoon, who assist him in making the awards and also double as members of his blues band. When they're not laboring on the Grammys, they're in his little recording studio, located conveniently in his shop in Ridgway, Colo., at the foot of the San Juan Mountains of the southern Rockies. * * * Billings inherited the Grammy job from his friend and mentor, Bob Graves, who started making the Grammys back when the Recording Academy was founded in 1958. Billings was in dental college learning how to make dental molds when Graves suggested he learn how to make Grammys instead. The two worked side by side until Graves' death in 1984. A large company, RS Owens & Co. of Chicago, makes the other big awards trophies  the Oscars and the Emmys  using many workers. For years, Billings says, Owens has been trying to add the Grammys to its stable. "They try to underbid me, but I promised Bob before he died, I wouldn't ever let Owens get the Grammys. There've been years when I didn't make any money, a couple of years when it cost me, but I'm honoring his wish." The current Grammy design, which Billings created in 1990, is about 30% bigger than the original trophies. (The academy thought the statues needed to be bigger so they could be seen on television.) There also are more of them to make: When he started making Grammys, there were only about 50 categories; that number has since doubled. * * * "The first thing we do is cast the four major components of the Grammy. Using different molds, we pour an alloy of metals, which I call 'grammium.' It's zinc, aluminum and some secret ingredients. "We pour about 300 pounds into a big cauldron, a melting pot, then we ladle it into molds made of bronze. That cools pretty quickly, and then we clamp the different pieces together. Casting takes a couple of months. "The next step is hand-filing to clean up seams and cracks where the pieces come together, and then grinding on a belt sander. We're still doing that; it takes several months to grind and file. "Then they're polished on a large buffing wheel, and then gold-plated, or electroplated, in 24- karat gold. We add a black-lacquer base, which is also cast in metal. That's just like automotive body work  you put on putty and primer, and then you spray on the lacquer. "Then each Grammy is assembled and individually boxed and given a serial number, which is assigned by the academy. And the engraving comes after the winners are verified." Every year, Billings saves a Grammy from the batch to keep as an artist's proof. "When you compare them, you can see the progression of the quality. We try not to cut corners; we try to make it better every year." Neither Billings nor the academy discloses how much each Grammy is worth, but no one should try to sell one: They belong to the academy and legally can't be sold. Still, Billings says he spotted one, awarded to composer John Williams in 1977 for best pop instrumental performance for the soundtrack for Star Wars, up for auction on eBay recently  for a minimum bid of $9,950. "But the academy watches for that kind of thing closely, so I don't think it will sell," he says. It didn't: Shortly after Billings saw it, the auction was pulled. * * * In addition to the winners' statues, Billings also made the 48 Grammys that are reused every year for the televised ceremony. After the show, the winners' list is sent to Billings at his shop. He engraves the names on plaques and attaches them to the awards. Then he loads the Grammys in his truck and delivers them to the academy in Los Angeles for distribution to the winners. On the same trip, he picks up next year's supply of metal ingots  about 2.5 tons of metal  and goes back to Colorado to start on the next batch of awards. This year, Billings plans to attend the awards ceremony, which he often does. "The night before, there's a reception for the nominees, which is a lot of fun. You get to meet people and schmooze and see old friends." He says it makes up for the hard work of making the trophies. "It's a lot of late nights, standing and grinding these Grammys for months, your hands getting burned and earplugs in your ears because it's so noisy. It's not very glamorous!" Billings is as much a musician as he is sculptor and artisan. "I've been a musician for 42 years, but I'm not coming close to winning a Grammy. But it would really be cool. I've already got my speech prepared!"