Making music
They reside in basements, garages, and workshops strewn with sawdust —hundreds, sometimes thousands, stacked on top of one another. Gathering dust. Aging.
To a layman’s eyes, these stores of thin planks of wood look like little more than a carpenter’s unfulfilled ambitions. But in the hands of area luthiers, these strips will one day form the elegant curves of stringed instruments. And as any proud instrument artiste will quickly point out, these unassuming panels aren’t the kind you pick up at The Home Depot.
The amount of Brazilian rosewood needed to make the back and sides of a single guitar can cost $1,200 to $2,500.
Yep, these dull piles are worth tens of thousands of dollars — and sometimes more. The wood is often rare, old and marked with peculiar colors, patterns or the wavy horizontal markings sometimes called “flaming.”
This is where it all begins.
In a factory, these planks would be manufactured into a certain quantity of identical instruments. But in the hands of a small-time luthier, each instrument is as unique as its maker.
Maybe that’s why these skilled craftsmen don’t take jobs at the big companies. In their own shops, they are more than workers. They are artists.
Nathan Fisher
Fisher Guitar Works, 622-0483
Instruments: Ukuleles in four sizes ($750 to $1,500), acoustic steel-string guitars ($2,000 to $3,000)
Favorite woods: Oregon Myrtle, Koa, Curly Maple
Experience: About 20 years
Nathan Fisher is a guy you hear about from other people.
Shy and soft-spoken, he must be coaxed to talk about himself or his work. Lucky for Fisher, his boisterous wife, Terri, is more than willing to fill in the blanks.
“Tell her about the harp,” she suggests. “Tell her about the turtle ukulele.”
Fisher works out of his home and makes acoustic steel-string guitars and ukuleles (in four sizes). He’s also made electric basses and electric guitars. That harp was made especially for his wife.
Fisher began making instruments when he built himself a guitar in 1987. He improved his skills through a decade of work at Tejon Street Music with luthier John Ramsey (see page 8). Eventually, he started his own business, Fisher Guitar Works, which specializes in guitar repair.
Fisher now makes two to four instruments a year. He rarely makes commissioned pieces, working instead for himself and his fancy.
“Once the instrument’s finished, it’s kind of a representation of the person that made it,” he said.
His ukuleles often are made with inner braces that form an X-shape, which he says gives them “a tighter, focused sound.” The “turtle ukulele” his wife is fond of was made with an offset sound hole shaped like the reptile.
Juan Mijares
J. Mijares Violins, 111 N. Tejon St., Suite 1, 578-8242, mijaresvio lins.com
Instruments: violins (about $8,000), violas (about $10,000), cellos (about $16,000)
Most famous customers: symphony players in cities such as Dallas
Favorite woods: maple and spruce
Experience: 25 years
Extras: Mijares hosts a monthly instrument-makers forum. Call the store for more information.
Down an alley behind Tejon Street, J. Mijares Violins’ storefront looks hidden and ancient, like a secret garden.
Inside, warm yellow light dances on the vaulted ceilings of the old building. Dark bodies of violins decorate the walls, and antique furniture cements the environment in another time.
The keeper of the shop, Juan Mijares, is in the business of bringing the past to life. A handmade Mijares violin is made to mimic great instruments of the past.
Like people, guitars grow decrepit with age, but a mastercrafted, well-maintained violin will outlast its maker by centuries. An excellent violin grows better with age.
Mijares, who also sells, repairs and restores instruments, is a 1985 graduate of the Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City. He bought his store 20 years ago.
The art of making a violin has been honed over the years. The top and back are hand-carved to form a strong dome inside the instrument that needs only a single brace for support. The scroll that crowns the neck is formed by hand from a block of wood. Surprisingly, this isn’t the tricky part.
“The varnish is the thing you spend your lifetime trying to figure out,” Mijares said. “Everyone has their own secret recipes, and no one wants to share.”
For sound quality, varnish must be thin, but it must also give the violin a rich appearance and protect the wood. In the end, Mijares says, a good violin has none of the tinny sound of a cheap one, and it plays with ease.
Randy Reynolds
rreyno@earthlink.net, www. reynoldsguitars.com
Instruments: Classical, flamenco, and steel-string guitars ($3,850 and up)
Most famous customers: Phil Volan, Dale Miller, Jim Bosse
Favorite woods: Brazilian Rosewood, Spanish Cypress, and European Spruce
Experience: 10 years
Randy Reynolds goes to his garage and cranks the heat and humidifier to nearly unbearable levels. Why would anyone do this? Dedication.
If you’re building a guitar that will be sent to the muggy climate of a country in south Asia, you need to build it in a simulated environment. Otherwise, the radical climate change could cause the wood to warp.
It would be fair to call Reynolds a perfectionist. He works full-time as a luthier in his tidy garage shop, yet finishes only a dozen guitars a year. Connoisseurs languish for years on his waiting list. Reynolds is known among luthiers and players in town for his high-level craftsman ship. His goal is to make classicsounding instruments with notso-classic construction.
He was one of the first to develop the acoustic port — an extra sound hole in the side of the guitar that allows the player to hear the instrument with the same clarity the audience enjoys. Reynolds also makes a guitar with an off-set sound hole — a method that requires less inner bracing, allowing the body of the guitar more vibration and a different sound.
Ed Lynch
Walk on Water Musical Instruments, 210 W. 2nd St., Pueblo, 719-542-6516, wowmusical instruments.com
Instruments: bass guitars ($1,800 and up), guitars ($1,800 and up), handheld harp ($3,500), strumbass ($1,800), slide bass ($1,400 and up), Karendola ($2,100), Amandamer ($2,100), Bamanjolin ($2,700), Syntars ($3,000 and up), snare drums ($1,000 and up)
Most famous customers: Musicians Gary Lunn, Kevin Prosch, Tony Green
Favorite woods: Wenge, maple and walnut
Experience: About 10 years
Ed Lynch admits to being “musically challenged,” but when his eldest son became obsessed with drumming, Lynch decided to bond with him by playing the bass. The only problem was, he needed a bass.
A professional cabinet-maker who made himself a banjo in high school, Lynch made his own instrument. Unfortunately, his attempts at learning to play it were less successful. But Lynch is not easily discouraged. He made more instruments. His experimental flair was ignited by his younger children, for whom he made specially-tailored instruments. The Amandamer is a tiny, hollowed-out mandolin/dulcimer. The Karendola is an electric/acoustic extended-range dulcimer. The Bamanjolin layers a mandolin body on top of a banjo.
Lynch founded Walk on Water Musical Instruments eight years ago. Now, he focuses on fretted and fretless electric bass guitars. Most have special features such as a semihollow body, floating tail piece, sliding pick-ups or a brass bullet bridge that gives strings full independence.
Andrew J. Scott
761-1853, infiniteinstrument.com
Instruments: Just about anything
Favorite woods: Engelmann spruce, beetle-kill ponderosa pine, bubinga, purpleheart
Experience: Two years
From a keyboard guitar that seems to be carved out of a piece of driftwood, to a violin intricately carved into a purple Chinese dragon, Andrew J. Scott makes some of the coolest-looking instruments you’ve ever seen.
Scott once owned “Seth’s Custom Woodworking,” the business responsible for those whimsical doors at Manitou’s Kinfolks, at 950 Manitou Ave.
The pony-tailed Manitoid recently decided to become a fulltime luthier. His instruments are far from run-of-the-mill, both in appearance and sound.
Among Scott’s creations is a fretless bass with a granite fingerboard for easy sliding. Its wooden headpiece is carved to resemble a stingray, and its body looks like an alien creature bearing dinosaur teeth.
The jigoe is another of Scott’s inventions. Scott says he wanted to create something close to the Japanese koto that could be played like a guitar. The jigoe is played by flipping its strings back and forth.
The baritone banjolele, another original, has the size and strings of a baritone ukulele and the tuning and shape of a banjo.
Scott says he’ll make anything, and he can usually complete an instrument in a month. He does a lot of custom work and often inlays crushed dinosaur bone, meteorite, jade and semiprecious stones into his instruments.
John & Pam Ramsey
Tejon Street Music and Palm Tree Ukuleles, 330 N. Tejon St., 634-2228, palmtreeukuleles.com
Instruments: Ukuleles in three sizes ($1,500-$2,500)
Favorite woods: Koa and mango
Experience: More than 25 years
With its small stature and association with Don Ho, the ukulele doesn’t always get the respect it deserves.
Even John Ramsey, an instrument maker for more than 25 years, says he didn’t take the ukulele seriously at first.
“I’ve built so many other instruments, and I thought, ‘Ukuleles, they’re just a little tiny instrument,’” he said.
So he was surprised to find that ukuleles are as challenging to make as guitars. The process is similar, but made more difficult by petite parts.
Ramsey has created instruments since the ’70s — dozens of mandolins and guitars, and also reproduction necks for old Gibson banjos.
In recent years, Ramsey and his wife, Pam, became fascinated with Hawaiian culture. They enjoy vacationing on the islands and were inspired when their then-employee, Nathan Fisher, began making ukuleles. Soon, Ramsey was making the ittybitty instruments. Pam has been his apprentice for two years, picking up most of the skills.
The Ramseys still focus their energy on their 30-year-old business, Tejon Street Music, but when they retire they hope to concentrate on their ukulele business, Palm Tree Ukuleles.
The Ramseys — who won “Best in Show” at the 2005 Ukulele Guild of Hawai’i Awards — spend about 30 hours on each ukulele. The couple make three sizes of ukuleles, and they also make a traditional pineappleshaped ukulele.
All the ukuleles are made out of Hawaiian koa or mango wood, and the construction is usually patterned after Martin ukuleles of the ’20 to ’40s.
Vance Grasso
Grasso Guitars, 635-4706
Instruments: Guitars ($1,500-$2,500), mandolins (about $1,100), octave mandolins (about $1,100)
Most famous customers: Musician and producer David Harvey
Favorite woods: Rosewood and flamed maple
Experience: 30 years
In 1931, Martin made a small guitar with an incredible sound.
Vance Grasso was lucky enough to acquire one. As he lovingly reassembled the classic instrument, he was inspired. Grasso realized he could mimic the design of those old Martins.
He often makes these tribute instruments with herringbone rosettes and scalloped braces — both classic Martin features. The specialized braces lend support but are thinner, allowing the body of the guitar more vibration and a distinctive sound.
Grasso has been making instruments since 1976, when he made himself a guitar. He’s made mandolins and octave mandolins, but guitars are his specialty. He even has his own design of cutaway guitars. Grasso has made as many as 20 instruments a year; recently he’s produced only one annually. He takes orders and hopes to become a full-time luthier when he retires. For now, he owns his own cabinetry business, Grasso Fine Woodworks.
Bud Ford, Donna Ford, Andy Bennett, W.D. Dever, Erin Ford & Bud Ford III
The Dulcimer Shop, 740 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs, 685-9655, dulcimer.net
Instruments: Mountain dulcimers ($295-$4,000), steel-string guitars ($1,400-$4,000)
Most famous customers: Dolly Parton, Tammy Faye Bakker Messner and Ben Vereen
Favorite woods: Bubinga, Honduras mahogany, maple, East Indian rosewood, walnut
Experience: About 35 years
Bud Ford calls this area “the catacombs.” The maze of walkways and cement-walled rooms in the Dulcimer Shop basement are packed with the sliced corpses of maple, cherry, walnut, and spruce trees. For a luthier, this is a treasure trove. Under the brand “Cripple Creek,” the team of luthiers at the Dulcimer Shop use their enviable stockpiles to make mountain dulcimers, often with custom touches. Andy Bennett once worked for NBN Guitars Ltd., which made instruments for James Taylor, Leo Kottke, Paul Simon, and Elvis Presley. Now he makes guitars for the shop and also works with Randy Reynolds (see page 1).
