Charles Fox is one of the
guitar community’s earliest
independent builders. Through
his American School of Lutherie
and his affinity for jig making
and problem solving, it’s not
unreasonable to speculate that
he has directly or indirectly
influenced virtually every acoustic
guitar maker working today.
Visit any flattop luthier’s shop,
and you’ll probably find his
Universal Side Bender—and
maybe even his Bridge Clamp
system. Further, some of the
techniques he developed in
his classroom are now standard
practice among acoustic
luthiers, particularly in the way
trim work is installed.
LEFT: This Ergo features cocobolo back and
sides, a Honduran mahogany neck, and a Gabon
ebony
fretboard, in addition to an elevated
fingerboard and a compound cutaway that
gently twists the
surface away from your
fretting hand and brings it flush with
the tapered heel. RIGHT: Fox’s patented
unibody design features
back and sides with a
Brazilian rosewood exterior,
an aircraft-foam core,
and a
three-ply laminate interior.
Fox credits his extensive
training as a teacher with helping
him discover simple, efficient
ways of working that also
happen to increase accuracy,
consistency, and quality. His
newest project, the Ergo, is a
gorgeous expression of the state
of the art from his extremely
well-versed perspective. With a
wedge-shaped body, Laskin arm
rest, elevated fretboard, closable
side port, removable access
panel, compound cutaway,
and stunning good looks, it’s
what many players would call a
“dream guitar.”
We caught up with Fox
recently between a three-week
trip to southeast Asia and a
two-week intensive guitar-making
class.
Ergo—with all its functional
details, like side ports that
can be opened or closed—is a
stunning piece of craftsmanship.
How did it come about?
It took shape in 2005. The
aim was to take a number of
significant new guitar-making
trends—Linda Manzer’s wedge-shaped
body, the late Tom
Humphrey’s elevated fretboard
and negative-pitch top, Grit
Laskin’s side sound port, Abe
Wechter’s removable access
panel, Jeff Elliott’s compound
cutaway, etc.—and combine
them with things I’d been
exploring. Things like monocoque/unibody construction
[
Ed. note: Monocoque designs
support the stresses put upon them
through their exterior shells rather
than through interior bracing],
braceless double-top steel-string
soundboards, removable necks,
and so on. The idea was to synthesize
these elements in a form
representing my own take on
the state of the art. One motivation
for the project was the
challenge that its unusual architecture
posed. I was bored with
the more-or-less conventional
construction I had worked
with for so long, and I needed
to shake things up and stretch
a little. On a different note, I
wanted the
Ergo Noir, with its
piano-black soundboard, ebony
binding, and red pinstriping,
to at least hint at life’s erotic
dimension. I don’t know how
clear that is to everyone, but for
those of us who are of a certain
sensibility, she is a sexy beast.
The Charles Fox-designed Universal
Side Bending Machine has become a go-to tool
for
acoustic luthiers all over the world.
The Luthiers Mercantile catalog
offers the Fox Universal
Side Bending Machine, the Fox
Bridge Clamp, and a few other
tools you created that have
pretty much become workshop
standards now. Can you tell us
a little about how they were
developed and whether you’ve
got tools in the works?
It’s satisfying to contribute
something useful to one’s craft.
Today’s rich approach to guitar
making is the result of contributions
from hundreds of luthiers
thinking “What if . . . ?” As a
teacher, I’m a bit more public
than my inventive colleagues,
and my students go on to share
with others what they learn
from me, which helps account
for the modest influence of
my innovations. Regardless, I
have this reputation as a tool
maker—the Jig Meister—and
my approach to guitar making
is certainly weighted toward
the use of simple, easily made
devices that make the work
more efficient, accurate, consistent,
and, of course, of higher
overall quality. I teach jig- and
fixture-design principles that
others can apply to their own
needs in their own shops.
As a teacher, I’m motivated
to create ways for beginners
to tackle challenging tasks and
achieve high-level results. The
now ubiquitous Universal Side
Bender was a response to such
a need. The mother of that
invention was the nightmare
reality of eight or 10 students
at a time scorching and breaking
guitar sides right and left
as they learned to bend them
on a hot pipe. An example of a
now-common process that came
from my shop is the practice of
installing trim work dry, with
all the miters and other joints
nice and tight, and then using
thin CA [cyanoacrylate] glue
and capillary action to secure
them while they are taped
in place. One design feature
I’ve introduced is the classical
guitar’s modern double-top
technology adapted to the more
rigorous demands of the steel-string
guitar. There are many
others, some now so deeply
embedded in the craft that
today’s luthiers might imagine
them to be part of some timeless
tradition. It must be said,
though, that good ideas don’t
come from nowhere. I credit
whatever gift I have for creating
tools to a giant in that field,
Michael Gurian. His work
introduced me to a whole new
way of thinking about and
relating to the craft and literally
changed the course of my
career. The late, great guitar
maker Richard Schneider is
another mentor whose personal
example had a profound impact
on my relationship to my work.