For all guitarmakers: Your vision about your job

[BenjaminPaldacci]

I woke up today and said "what is the meaning of my actual life?"

When I started to think about lutherie, I just wanted to copy solidbody guitars, old ones like Strat or Les Paul. I was in an "electric ladyland" spirit. When I left all I loved to come in Quebec to go to the National school of lutherie (Family, friends...), I had a dream to discover a new land, were everything was possible.

So, I started to walk on a new path, and after to built my first guitar, classical one, I was like "man... what have I done? I am completely out of the way I chosed at the begining. OK, I'll try to see what happened next". So, I started to build my first acoustic and... a revelation hapened. I remember, I was 2012, 23rd September, and I spent 13 hours during the day. It was like if I found my holy grail. So, I decided to build acoustic guitars, but not to find my way, just copy Martin guitars.
For the 3rd guitar, I found a lot of great luthiers on the web, but Michihiro Matsuda, Mario Beauregard and Raymond Kraut just punched me in stomach. I never thought that an acoustic guitar could be a piece of art... and it is this day that I said "ok, As guitarmaker, some people revolutionized the instrument and I want to be a part of this equation, bring something and try to do my best foor that". ctually, when I take a look to that I was really haughty because it the road is full of obstacles, and these guitarmakers are just geniuses. After that, people like Ervin Somogyi, Jason Kostal, Keisuke Nishi, Hiroshi Hirovitch Ovigino, Michel Pellerin, Michael Greenfield, and a lot of others, showed me all you can bring to an instrument (In term of aesthetic, and sound)

After the school, I started the project to open my workshop, but I had a fear: to be totally crushed. Some people helped me to prepare to be ready. I think to my family, but to Dear friends like Maurice Roy who ordered my first guitar, François Pelletier and Claude Laflamme for their return on my guitars as musicians, and Michel Pellerin, Jason Kostal, David Wren (I forgot a couple of people, but I quoted them precedently) for all their great advices and support.

So, I think that we are just here to serve music and musicians. We are nothing without them and whatever if they are not Jimi Hendrix or John Williams, their loved for the instrument is what matters for me. My customer could put my guitar behind glass, he will love it in the same way that I love my child... because instruments I made are like that. I think that music is made to share something, and it is the same for guitars.

Everyday, I have the luck to work with wood, a treasure that nature give us. I try to respect it, to honor it and to show that a guitar is not just an instrument but a gift of life. I am, IMHO, the luckiest guy in the world to have this job, and I hope to keep in mind that I need to improve my skills everyday, to try to innovate on the sound, the built and the aesthetic of my instruments. I don't want to stay at the same place, to rest on my laurels and to show that I just know one thing. There are a hundred of different technicals, and I try to open My mind to all of them... and I think that it is like that that I could achieve my goals.

By the way, I try to improve my english everyday so... sorry for mistakes. Cheers!

Benjamin Paldacci

[fountainhead]

Benjamin- As I said on another posting, your passion and respect for guitar building-as well as your feelings on art and music are wonderful to see. You have a maturity that is to be commended, and I believe you'll have a very bright future!

Best Wishes!

[BenjaminPaldacci]

Sir, I know you!

As I said, Thank you for your kind words Frank!

I am pretty interested to see the point of view of others guitarmakers and to discover a new vision about lutherie

[Oxwood_Handmade]

Thanks for asking! And for sharing your vision, it brings new inspiration.

My first guitar build was a gift from my in-laws. My wife's grandfather built for fun in his small shop at his home and I was afforded the opportunity to build one guitar as a birthday present. I was instantly hooked!

I never had any intention of recreating past guitars like you. My first was a dread simply because he was a dreadnaught builder exclusively. My second, and the rest following, were my own shapes. I've always wanted to build "my own". I have, however, recently gained a huge appreciation for the traditional shapes and have worked my newest shapes to be a little more congruent with them. Slight modifications to the Dreadnaught and the OM.

Part I:

I love what you said about "serving the musicians". It's a great reminder that it's what we're actually doing if we plan to make any sort of a living at it. On the other hand, a hobbyist's building can be as self serving as it needs to be. As a creative outlet or the love of creating something in his/her spare time or experimentation with radical stuff.

With the new line of guitars I'm now offering my goal is just that, to serve the musicians. The really high end, elaborately ornamented and expensive exotic wood builds are a heap of fun, but the market for them is seemingly small compared to the number of builders. My goal with the Base guitars is not to offer something that is within the reach of serious musicians who plan to take the guitar on the road, or to gigs, without worrying so much about their $8,000 custom build. Spending time watching what performing guitarists were playing I noticed that many were able to shell out the funds for a high end Taylor or Martin. It led me to believe that if the handmade guitar were an option in this same price range, perhaps that is a market that I could find success in...in terms of success being measured by "serving the musician". So far, decent interest but nothing earth shattering. I assume it is due partly to the very limited exposure I've had with them so far. But, with more stores interested, a few more builds on the horizon and the road trip guitar they should be getting some good exposure.

Part II:

I have a deep deep respect and connection to nature. It's incredible to take a living, breathing thing like a tree and give it a whole new life and purpose. I think that there is inherent soul in a guitar that is constructed by an individual using specifically chosen woods. There is a sort of mojo that I, at least, do not get from factory/production guitars. Honoring the tree; honoring nature by way of lutherie is a large part of my building. Allowing each unique piece of wood to breathe and become the guitar.

All in all, I feel very lucky to be able to do this for a living. Making music is one of my favorite things and I now get to do it on a whole other level. I feel honored when a person can use my guitar to make beautiful music. It's a feeling that is hard to explain.

Thanks again for starting this thread.

Brad

[BenjaminPaldacci]

Wow Brad, what a nice answer! thank you very much for your vision too, it is pretty great to speak about it with other guitarmakers!