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Luthier on Luthier with Michael Bashkin

Every month, luthier Michael Bashkin interviews his peers and guitar building heroes for the Luthier on Luthier podcast. Brought to you by the Fretboard Journal magazine.
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Now displaying: Category: Hobbies, Music,
Dec 28, 2021

David Russell Young has been making violin bows for over 30 years, but before that he was a guitarmaker. And, in 1975, David published The Steel String Guitar: Construction and Repair, one of the few books on guitarmaking at the time. It would go on to inspire countless builders.

For episode 61 of the podcast, David takes us back to his first guitars and how he came to write the influential book. He also tells us why he switched to bowmaking and gives us a primer on bow materials and construction. At the end of our chat, David reflects on his 50 years as a luthier and offers his thoughts on the current world of custom guitars. 

This episode is sponsored by Acoustic Coffee Company, Allied Lutherie and Dream Guitars.

Oct 28, 2021

Tim Kill started building guitars as a teenager in his grandfather's workshop. He then went on to travel the world before returning home to Australia to play bass in bands, study classical guitar building, and double bass restoration, repair and construction.  

Tim then went onto to start his own shop building a wide variety of instruments including stick basses, Indian classical slide guitars and Weissenborns. During our chat, Tim tells us about his influences, the handmade tools that his grandfather left him, his finishing processes and his non-guitar hobby... racing vintage motorcycles.

Link: timkillcustom.com

This episode is sponsored by Acoustic Coffee Company, Allied Lutherie and Dream Guitars.

Apr 29, 2020
Abe Wechter has done it all: From building guitars one-at-a-time, to running guitar factories both domestically and abroad. For Episode 41 of the podcast, Abe and I take a walk to escape the noise at the 2020 NAMM show. His story takes many twists and turns including successes and failures, corrupt business partners, heartbreak and romance. Abe's guitar story starts 40 years ago in his Paw Paw, Michigan shop and continues and stretches today to Guangzhou, China, where he's a major OEM guitar manufacturer.   
 
Link: https://www.wechterguitars.com/work

This episode is sponsored by Dream Guitars

Dec 4, 2019

Sam Guidry not only teaches at the Galloup School of Guitar Building, he also makes world-class acoustic guitars. For Episode 36 of Luthier on Luthier, Sam tells us the unexpected way he started at the Galloup School and what he enjoys about teaching. Sam also runs us through some his guitar's unique design features, and how he uses a top rating measurement system to achieve consistency and get the sound that he wants. We also hear about his time as a touring musician and his latest project, Caseadillo Case Covers.

Links: 
http://www.samguidryguitars.com/welcome.html
https://www.galloupguitars.com/schools-of-lutherie-luthier.htm
http://www.annarborguitars.com/

Sep 30, 2019
Archtop guitar maker Bill Comins started his career as an aspiring jazz musician. Thanks to that, he brings the player's viewpoint into his guitars. "If I go overboard on making things very resonant, I'm going to be fighting inconsistencies, and as player that is useless to me on the bandstand," he says. For our 34th episode, I sit down with Bill at the Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival, where he shares his player-led insights into archtop guitar design, voicing and amplification. Bill also tells us about his Guitar Craft series line and explains how he has successfully navigated the world of archtops for over 25 years.
 
In addition, I have a brief conversation with Peter Henriksen of Henriksen amplifiers, who is the the creator of the Rocky Moutain Archtop Festival. Peter tells us what it is like to put on a first year show, how the idea for it came about and his plans for the future.
 
Links:
https://www.cominsguitars.com/
https://www.henriksenamplifiers.com/
https://www.archtopfestival.com/
Aug 8, 2019
Trevor Gore has a goal to build better guitars. To that end, he has applied the full force of his expertise as a professional engineer to research and document the physics of how acoustic guitars work and develop the methods to control the sound. Trevor lays all this out in his two-part book, Contemporary Acoustic Guitar Design and Build, co-authored with Gerard Gilet. For episode 32 of the podcast, I sit down with Trevor after his modal tuning workshop and he gives us an overview of his approach to designing guitars. Trevor then tells us how he went from an engineering student racing sailboats in the UK to living in Australia and how his dissatisfaction with his own guitar started him on his quest to build a better one. 
 
Links
Trevor Gore Guitars
Roberto-Venn Guitars (this week's sponsor)

 

May 22, 2019
For our 30th episode of the podcast, we talk with Colorado-based instrument builder Jeff Bamburg. Jeff tells us about his multifaceted approach to the guitar business; including running a retail shop, his custom line of Bamburg guitars, his production line of Rocky Mountain guitars, as well as teaching lutherie and doing repairs. Jeff also explains why one of his goals is to build a business that he can sell,  and about his experiments with double-top and true-tempered guitars.  
 
Link:
https://www.bamburgguitars.com/
Apr 24, 2019
Roger Sadowsky makes guitars for many of today's top professional guitarists, and his instruments are in heavy rotation on stages and in studios across the world. For episode 29 of the podcast, we caught up with Roger at the 2019 winter NAMM Show.
 
Roger shares his thoughts on electric guitar tonewoods, neck design, and the story of how in 1972 he put down the scalpel and picked up a chisel. It would start him on the path to becoming one of the world's most highly respected guitar makers.  

https://www.sadowsky.com/

Dec 26, 2018
Marc Beneteau has successfully navigated a career in building custom guitars since 1974. For our twenty fifth episode, Marc takes us back to his early years, talks to us about forging his own path and describes how he has remained focused and passionate about guitar building over all these years. 
 
Links:
http://www.beneteauguitars.com/
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/youngatheart/
 

 

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