The Advanced Design
Features class sounds intriguing.
What’s covered in that?
It’s a five-day seminar that
focuses on new design features
that a growing number of
luthiers offer as options and
even standard features. The
attraction and value of double
tops, sound ports, arm rests, and
wedge-shaped bodies is clear
to most luthiers and players
who’ve experienced them, but
the theory and the how-to of
these new elements isn’t always
obvious. Advanced Design
Features is an opportunity for
experienced builders to bring
their work up to speed in this
area. Seminar topics include
double tops, arm rests, sound
ports, access panels, adjustable
necks, removable necks, spiral
fretboards, laminated rims,
rigid linings, compound and
scalloped cutaways, elevated
fretboards, wedge-shaped bodies,
semi-hemispheric fret ends,
headless necks, off-center soundholes,
removable bridges, double
cutaways, synthetic bridge and
saddle materials, multiple scales,
fanned frets, pinless bridges,
alternative body architecture,
ventilated, relieved braces, and
unibody construction.
LEFT: This small jumbo Ergo Noir has
a floating jazz-style pickguard. RIGHT: Fox’s blue Stag Leap electric
features a radically shaped, deeply
carved swamp ash body with a flamed
hard-rock maple neck.
How can people find out more
about your classes and guitars?
To learn more about ASL, visit
americanschooloflutherie.com
and see if any of our classes seem
right for you. We always recommend
checking out a number of
schools, and you’ll find advice
on our site for choosing the best
fit for you. If you’re interested in
exploring having a custom guitar
made, you might start by perusing
the Ergo Guitars website,
ergoguitars.com.
What’s the impetus for your
mixture of teaching and
building?
Independent lutherie is a lonely
business practiced largely
in monkish solitude. When
I teach, my shop takes on a
welcome social dimension. The
balance of my time working
alone and with others is good
for me, and I can adjust the
balance as I wish. Over the
course of a year, it’s roughly
half and half. Lately, I’ve been
loading up on the spring and
summer classes—when more
of my students can leave their
day jobs—and leaving more
time in the fall and winter
for working alone on my own
instruments and other projects.
My income is about the same
whether I’m building for clients
or teaching. So these are
among the practical attractions
of teaching. I also love it—I
take it seriously, and I do it
pretty well. And I’m sure I’m
a better guitar maker than I
would be if I didn’t teach the
craft. Teaching has me regularly
explaining and reviewing
my understanding, and that
deepens my understanding of
things that I would otherwise
never think much about. I also
learn a tremendous amount
from my students, among who
are artists, professionals, and
entrepreneurs of every sort.
That enormous knowledge
base passing through my shop
is not wasted on me.
LEFT: Fox’s Ergo acoustic features a “low-mass parabolic”
soundboard that he also refers to as a “double
top.” Between its two thin layers of high-grade tone
wood is a 1/16" sheet of space-age material with a
honeycomb pattern. Fox says this combination weighs
40 percent less than a solid top and thus enables the
top to ring more freely. Here, the rear “skin” of cedar
is about to be laminated to the spruce top skin, which
already has its honeycomb core attached. RIGHT: The Ergo features a shoulder sound port and
ebony binding with red veneer pinstripes.
What projects are you planning
for the next five years or
so—either at the school or in
your shop?
I’m designing a more affordable
guitar that incorporates some
of the Ergo’s features, seriously
revisiting the electric guitar, and
adding a class or two to ASL’s
curriculum—including a setup
and basic repairs class designed
for guitar owners as well as our
lutherie students. Jig plans and
kits are on the way, too, as well
as some instructional videos.
Some builders want to die at
their workbench, others want
to retire and never use a scraper
again. How about yourself?
It’s hard to imagine not building
guitars—at least for a long
time. I’ve left the craft and
come back to it more than
once, and I understand its
importance to my sanity and
balance. On the other hand,
the thought of buying a few
acres in coastal B.C. and cruising
the inland waterways in
a stout wooden boat is very
appealing. Who knows? Of
course, a time will come when
I just can’t do it, when I can no
longer stand at my workbench
or guide a tool accurately, but
that time is way yonder. I’ve
got far too many ideas and
projects still to bring to life.