CURSED OBJECTS

Okay so I really tried there to use the title of a book that is not only dear to my heart but also to my ethos on the art of Luthery, I’m sorry it got a bit clunky.

I just briefly wanted to share a story or at least a few thoughts, from an encounter I had with a Luthier a couple of days ago. 

I’d decided to pay a visit to a Guitar Repair shop, the owner of which I have known since buying (being gifted) my first guitar when I was 11. My mission was simple, hang out there and badger him long enough until he could give a few pointers on some aspects of some builds I have been having a bit of a hard time getting my head around. He wasn’t there, in a life meets film case of sliding doors, he had gone out moments earlier and left to man the shop a younger chap whom I’d not met before. 

The shop I was standing in is truly a work of art, sure the guitars on the walls are themselves all works of art but I mean, even the workbenches with all their clutter and parts of guitars strewn everywhere, to me just begs to be captured in a still life, it is one of my favourite places to just soak up the creativity and passion these folks have for stringed instruments. 

Sorry, I’m getting off the topic.

So there I was my hopes and dreams dashed, there would be no “schooling” for me today. Faced with feeling all the awkwards that arise from standing in a guitar shop like a stunned mullet I decided to at least say hello to the lad working away on an acoustic guitar. As luck would have it after a few moments of introductions he recognises my name from the Black Cat Bone facebook page and the cold sweat I was trying to fend off begins to ease off. 

Charles, was his name and I’m sure I’ve seen him around the traps before, I still can’t place him exactly though. We have a good talk about what he’s working on, what I’m working on and the discussion turns to what I am actually trying to achieve in my journey through Luthery. 

Cold sweats are back man. 

You see, I don’t really have an end goal in mind, I’m not exactly sure where it’s taking me and I’m absolutely one hundred percent okay with that. Before breaking into a blurb about that I thought about his question a little more and explained not where I want to be but more so what I want to be. This brings me to what I found surprising and somewhat enlightening, maybe even encouraging about how I am going about things with BCBG. I explain to him that I’m building Guitars, starting from the basics and working my way up, not simply to be a Guitar builder, but to be a repairer who knows these instruments intimately. My ethos is that, to be able to repair somebody else’s pride and joy, I should have always tried doing it to one of my own, and more than that, I should have built an instrument and know every inch of it and why what goes where before even toying with how it could be done differently. 

He looked at me and said that he wished more builders would come at it from that angle. I was a little confused by that and asked him to go on. He explained that there is a frequent flow of traffic from guitar builders who visit the shop with their soon to be new pride and joy, who have no idea how to set the instrument up, or come in for example questioning why the neck they just built is twisting… The list went on, and I had to question him as to why these people were having so many problems? The answer he stated was simple, they simply didn’t take the time to learn what they were doing and why they should be doing it, before they did it. That’s not to say they shouldn’t be making guitars, just to be clear, what I took from his comment was simply a statement pertaining to for example - yes the neck goes on the body but do you have a solid understanding on why the neck goes on the body just so? Perhaps that’s a little bit of a clunky way of putting it but I hope you get my meaning. To put a machine together is one thing, following a set of instructions is not the hardest thing to do (unless it’s from Ikea, in that case burn the instructions and go at it however you want) I think most people could put a guitar together, that’s why sales in guitar kits seem to be soaring, but to simply put something together is not a lesson in why it’s put together the way it is, and I think that is the most important factor here. 

So I feel like I am going on at length here and if you have stuck with me so far, thank you. I’m getting close to wrapping up here, I just wanted to explain that it is of the upmost importance to me and for the success of BCBG that I know every part of a guitar, to understand the slight differences between parts that alter tone, performance and feel, that possibly are indistinguishable to the player of one of my instruments. I have to force myself to take things slowly at times, I am the type of person who gets caught up in the moment and often will do something in the process of a build that I will quite literally look back on and say to myself, Dude, you did it again, you made that mistake a few months ago have you forgotten? It’s hard to do and believe me I completely understand why so many people just get started without thinking ahead. Not to get all heavy duty here but in all seriousness, the art of making guitars, the whole process, is fundamentally forcing me to challenge the way I have gone about things in life in general for years! 

Friends ask me if I’m a “Luthier”, the question makes me feel awkward, yes I build guitars which comes under the umbrella of being a Luthier, but there are builders out there who even after 20 years of practice and building, are reticent to use that title for themselves. I refer to myself as a Luthier in Training and I feel I will keep that version of title with me for some time and to be honest with you, I’m completely okay with that.

To finish up I’ll say this. That visit and a chance meeting has done nothing else if not reaffirm my beliefs in what I’m doing and how I’m doing them. Starting small, learning the why’s and how comes of Luthery and electronics, and all the while learning to and when not to try and reinvent the wheel. 

Class dismissed and I’ll be taking questions in the corridor next to the pool table in the bar over there with all the beer after 10a.m.

Sorry, the photo’s for this one are not my finest work… For this very small yet very sturdy Cohiba box I knew I should forgo basic acoustic ideas and just make it a straight up electric player. All in all I was happy with the outcome of this guitar, it held it’s own sounds wise particularly with the tone wound off and a bit of overdrive thrown in the mix. The biggest challenge on this build was the bridge, the box was too thin for a neck through body design, the tail of the neck often being my anchor for the string through. I decided as the lid of the box was rather strong that I would knock up a ‘tune o matic’ style bridge. Ebony with a fret installed and a few days of watching it closely to ensure it didn’t rip the whole thing apart and it was done. 

The neck by the way is a single piece of Western Australian Jarrah.