Guitar and the Guitarist

[Jonny]

It popped in my head this last few months about this 'topic', if you could say.

The question is: "You play guitar, thus making you a guitarist. So hypothetically, if you were a luthier (i.e. Jon "Feline") does that make you a good guitarist?"

Firstly, it somewhat relates all to me. I play guitar, I am a guitarist. I love playing all the songs I love, and even some practice exercises that I find interesting, etc. etc. but is being a good guitarist, i.e. plucking a riff from your head or improvising some solo and magically dance between chord shapes and manage to land yourself in a Marty, Satch, Vai, Gilbert, Nuno, Beck, Malmsteem, etc. etc. sort of insane solo- is it somewhat a "must be able" trait?

Thinking this (and probably anything else in my head) limits me (again, thinking other things would limit, respectively). I admire luthiers, I love building 'stuff'. I want to see it as a future, but if you build guitars and you're not a good guitarist yourself, is that somehow hypocritical/oxymoronic?

Just a random long winded question.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Leo Fender couldn't play guitar, but he made a few good ones

I play and enjoy playing - but it has always been for fun

Some people say that I am a pretty good player , but I have never spent much time jamming with other musos, or even learning lots of songs all the way through as I have always kind of dedicated my time to learning all I could about making and repairing guitars. All my spare time is spent honing & practising the skills I have in that department.

Ideally there would be twice as many hours in the day so I could do both

[FernandoDuarte]

I want to see it as a future, but if you build guitars and you're not a good guitarist yourself, is that somehow hypocritical/oxymoronic?

Just a random long winded question.

I don't think so... As you can be a good car builder (in a factory) and be a horroble driver... Have the ability to build is completely different from the ability to play... Build a guitar is 80% carpenter, but (as any job) you must understand how things work. In guitar is: How thick must be the neck, etc... Guitarrist knowlegde...


I'm trying to be a musician and luthier... Perhaps someday I can do one (o both) as a mais profession... :D

[WezV]

i hardly play at all now, and i certainly have no practice regime to speak of.

but i still play occasionally for my own enjoyment and because i like making noise... certainly not getting any better at it though

i dont think you need to be a good player at all to make good guitars.. but obviously you need to play enough to know what makes a good guitar play well.. the way i judge it is any guitar that is easy for me to play must be set-up well and therefore be easier for real players to play as well.. if that makes any sense.

i have no real dreams of being on stage anymore, but seeing my wortk on stage with someone who can actually play is a great feeling

interestingly leo fender couldnt really play, but then some people wouldnt class him as a luthier anywa, certainly not in the traditional sense ... i dont think if he had played he would ever have come up with something as simple as the telecaster

[Elliot]

As Wez says Leo Fender didn't play guitar in the slightest and had no interest in doing so - he was a radio repair man who like western swing music and 50s cars.  Was Les Paul a luthier - Sure, he is a renowned jazz guitarist, but like Leo Fender he was a part time electronics tinkerer who wanted to address problems of feedback in the recording studio.  If the inventors of the three most important electric solidbody guitars weren't luthiers where does that leave us?

[Jonny]

Awesome. Thanks Jon and Wez. This is a bit uplifting, lol..

It seems pretty difficult though, to become a luthier. To capture consumers, etc. it is difficult on the luthier side, but getting out to the world is even harder I think.

I suppose that's with all businesses.

[WezV]

if you build it they will come.... sorry, cheesy i know but its kinds true

[Jonny]

if you build it they will come.... sorry, cheesy i know but its kinds true

Well that's brightened up my spirits tonight. :)

[Elliot]

and if it all fails - you can make furniture  :D

[Jonny]

and if it all fails - you can make furniture  :D

Damn right!

Speaking of furniture, I built a little side-drawer today. Completing something is so gratifying, lol

[FELINEGUITARS]

I left The London College of Furniture- Musical Instrument Tech dept. in 87 (21 years ago) and have been building guitars ever since on and off.

It was late in 88 when I chose the name Feline Guitars so this year is kind of the 20th anniversary of Feline - although it was 11 years ago that I went full time with it.

But study and research as well as practise is important.
I became good friends with Doug from Black Machine in about 1990 and we spent lots of time discussing and sharing info on guitar related matters - this was invaluable at a time before the internet and all the forums where you can share this info. We still do the same now as it happens - keep pushing those boundaries!

I am indebted to some of the people who really taught me a lot - from the guys at LCF, to Neil Macdonald (Nightingale Guitars), Charlie Chandler and maybe especially Dan Erlewine whose books and videos I must have read/watched a million times. I still watch his stuff even now to keep my mind open to different approaches.

[MrBump]

There's an interesting bit in the Melvyn Hisc--k book "How To Build An Electric Guitar" where he talks about how difficult it is to make a living from building guitars.

I think that it's probably easier to making a living playing the damn things than building them...

[MrBump]

I left The London College of Furniture- Musical Instrument Tech dept. in 87

I remember reading an article, I think in Guitarist, and it was probably about that time.  The luither being interviewed said that if you want to learn how to make guitars, go there, because the skills involved in making beautiful furniture were higher than you would need for building guitars.

Makes sense.  If I won the lottery, I'd take a year or so out of life to go there!

Mark.

[FELINEGUITARS]

London College of Furniture (Now part of Metropoliatn Uni) and Merton College (Morden - South London) are the two best known colleges in the Uk for this sort of stuff.

To be fair it also comes down to aptitude and determination.
There are many graduates of these colleges working in office jobs
I had to make my own way to get the training I needed to
To be willing to work on very low wages whilst getting the experience and training I needed, and to be fair the wages haven't gone up since


Funnily enough I was persuaded in the past to give up guitar-making and get a "proper job" by an ex-girlfriend, only to find that I was unhappy as a result and spending every minute not in the office making guitars at home (not what she had wanted apparently-sawdust in every room!)

As an employer I would only chose to employ people with the same passion for doing it (and preferably with the same training). Both Chris and Ben studied at Merton College and I know some of the tutors there and pick their brains as to who has the "right stuff".
Ben is also a devotee of the Dan Erlewine stuff (WWW.stewmac.com) which did score considerable "brownie points" with me when I interviewed him for the post.