Luthier Ken Parker blends old world lutherie and aerospace tech materials, proving that wood and carbon fiber can dance together in a romantic tango of sonic bliss.
In the guitar market, classic models still have the biggest influence, but the future is lurking.
In the ever-evolving music industry, the electric guitar stands as an enduring stalwart, having shaped the sonic landscape for generations without much physical change. I’ve joked about the state of the guitar before, but let’s take a more serious view of what’s happening in the guitar business. It’s apparent that the classics continue to wield influence, while also undergoing a transformation reflective of the current tech era.
First, let’s consider the resonance of tradition. The vintage trade has never been more robust, and sale prices are at an all-time high. Of course, those rising price tags mean that more cost-effective, vintage-inspired designs are continuing to attract buyers. As a consequence, budget-conscious guitarists are gravitating towards instruments that pay homage to the golden era of rock ’n’ roll, which now encompasses “shredder” guitars as well. At the higher end of the price range, boutique luthiers and established brands alike continue crafting instruments that marry the timeless elegance of yesteryear with modern touches—with varying results.
The aftermarket is awash with the same strategy. Take, for instance, the drumbeat of PAF-style pickups—the holy grail of vintage tone. It’s the tone that everyone wants, but few have actually heard firsthand. Still, discerning players seek out guitars fitted with these replicas, their imaginations yearning for the warm, creamy sound that defined the bluesy (recorded) licks of legends. With the marketplace flooded with PAF imposters, it may be just a matter of time before more recent pickup designs become subject to widespread recreation. A case in point is the resurgence of the T-Top Gibson humbucker, which was the less cherished replacement to the PAF.
And it’s not only pickups. In the spirit of this quest for retro authenticity, some builders have gone a step further, meticulously recreating or improving upon other vintage components, ostensibly to capture the elusive magic of bygone eras. The difficulty for consumers to compare these products to the “real” thing is a conundrum that works in the maker’s favor. In the end, if you like what you hear, that’s what matters.
“As vintage-aesthetic fatigue sets in among some players, carbon fiber, aerospace alloys, and 3D-printed components are pushing the boundaries of what was once deemed sacred.”
Despite the constant dialogue about the golden age of guitars, the electric market is no stranger to innovation. Effect and amp builders offer both digital and analog impressions of vintage products, and there is a faction also pressing ahead into options never imagined in the past. In a world fueled by technological leaps, guitar amplification has embraced a metamorphosis in the realm of digital signal processing, where guitars are not mere instruments but also game controllers for a myriad of sonic possibilities. More and more, modeling technology is becoming the alchemist’s potion, allowing players to summon the tones of iconic amps and effects with a simple twist of a knob. Or at least, as the saying goes, close enough for rock ’n’ roll. It’s tempting to write off these devices based on early attempts, but as processing power gets more powerful and costs come down, we may see the final triumph of solid-state.
The tech touch is also evident in the rise of avant-garde designs and materials. As vintage-aesthetic fatigue sets in among some players, carbon fiber, aerospace alloys, and 3D-printed components are pushing the boundaries of what was once deemed sacred. Whereas previous attempts to integrate aerospace materials were laughable, modern-day artisans are crafting guitars that twist convention, challenging players to rethink their perceptions of what a cool electric guitar can be. The juxtaposition of tradition and innovation is not always a clash but a quest, where the echoes of the past might resonate in harmony with the cutting-edge present.
The democratization of luthiery has also given rise to a thriving custom and boutique market. When I started building instruments, there was no StewMac, and information was a guarded secret. Now, with social media as their stage, thousands of small-scale builders showcase their take on the past or their stab at the future. Like the craft-beer movement, small-shop guitar-making has turned into a significant hobby. These creations stand as testament to the artisanal spirit now driving the guitar market forward.
Yet, as we traverse the landscape of the electric-guitar market, it’s crucial to acknowledge the challenges. The digital age has ushered in a paradox—while virtual instruments and home-studio setups offer unprecedented accessibility, they also pose a threat to the tactile experience of playing a physical instrument. The allure of instant gratification in the form of digital plugins challenges the traditional methods that have defined the soul of the electric guitar for decades.
In my view, the electric-guitar market is a tapestry woven with threads of tradition and innovation. It’s a place where vintage sensibilities mix with cutting-edge technology, and the esoteric meets the mainstream. As players and builders continue to search for new ways to differentiate themselves, the electric guitar remains an ever-evolving muse, resonating with the echoes of the past while charting a course towards an exciting future. In other words, just as it has always been.Trying to figure out how to mix up your musical life this year? Here are some ideas.
Here we are again friends, at the beginning of the human construct known as the New Year. So, as is traditional here at Esoterica, I’m compelled to lay out some goals I’d like to pass on for the months ahead. A lot of things have happened and changed in the last few years, and yet things are oddly the same. The chase for the ultimate guitar tone remains with us, even as tone changes with the winds and whims of fashion. Still, I feel compelled to daydream about our opportunities to grow as musicians and passengers on spaceship Earth in the coming year. So, enough of my yakking—here’s the setlist:
Stop calling it a fingerboard. Unless you are playing a fretless instrument, the part of your instrument that harbors the frets is known as the fretboard. It’s a board, and it holds frets. I’ve taken heat for using the wrong term, so I’m working on this, too. We need solidarity here, so I promise to help you if you help me.
Learn the names of those “wacky” chords you use. It has never been easier to decode your fretboard. (See what I did there?) There are some great apps for this sort of detective work, and you probably already have one or more on your phone. I’ve been using GuitarToolkit for years as a mobile tuner. Like many of the other offerings out there, it has a function that lets you enter the chord voicing on a virtual fretboard, and it tells you what it is. You may not improve your playing, but it’s always empowering to discover you already know how to play Esus4.
Introduce a child to guitar music. I never really thought about this sort of thing before, but somebody’s got to do it. Parents subject their kids to junk food and stick-and-ball sports, so be an evangelist for the arts and put a cranked electric in the hands of a kid—and watch the fun begin. I built a kit guitar with my granddaughter for her birthday, and now she’s playing White Stripes songs. I can’t wait to show her some Tanya O’Callaghan and Larkin Poe videos! This year I’m going to get her little brother some drums just to annoy her parents.
Tune ’em down, speed ’em up, and strain those vocals like bloody murder. Before you know it, you’ll be touring stadium gigs packed with young fans who’ve never heard country music before.
Install a Floyd Rose on your Jazzmaster. Do I really have to explain this? It’s a natural progression to defile a classic instrument in order to piss off future generations of collectors. While you’re at it, put some active pickups in that vintage Harmony Rocket III and put the OG foil pickups on Reverb.
Rework some country tunes. Nothing is as edgy as bending genres. This is exactly what put classic acts like Led Zeppelin, Steve Miller, and the Black Keys on the musical map. My bet is on turning Garth Brooks and Dwight Yoakam ballads into modern anthems. Critics have called bro’ country “classic rock with a cowboy hat,” so here’s your opportunity to turn the tables for fun and profit. Tune ’em down, speed ’em up, and strain those vocals like bloody murder. Before you know it, you’ll be touring stadium gigs packed with young fans who’ve never heard country music before.
Refinish your relic Strat to mint condition. As long as we’re zigging while others zag, you may as well define the next big trend in guitars. Factory fresh is what you’re looking for, so make sure you use gobs of polyester clear to provide the final detail. And if you’re stuck with that minty PRS, go against the grain and refinish it with nitro and put it in the freezer until it checks like crazy. This goes over great at corporate gigs.
Befriend an aging musician. This is more of a cry for help on my part than advice to you. Just like a 23-year-old Peter Green introduced older Chicago bluesmen to sideways vibrato, you can teach old dogs new tricks too. The younger generations always have the latest innovations and techniques that can give has-been guitarists a new perspective and extend their careers. Move past the boomer jokes and help us understand that tone isn’t in our arthritic hands.
Get John Bohlinger to rundown your rig. Let’s face it, Bohlinger’s Rig Rundowns are the launching pad to stardom. He’s the man behind the careers of Joe Bonamassa and Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. So why build your fanbase organically? That’s so 2019. Just think, you’ll be turning this page (or scrolling) and BOOM.
Here are the good and bad habits to look for when you’re watching a builder at work.
It’s fun to binge-watch YouTube videos, and for guitarists there are a plethora of them to behold. There are mashups of metal and funk, as well as never-before-seen footage of classic acts in every genre. Then, there are the how-to videos that have helped me and countless others learn new fretboard moves. My favorites are the ones that decode songs, unlocking finger positions and chord voicings that have eluded me for years. But next to that, I enjoy watching guitar-making videos. As a builder whose 50-year career has allowed me to tour and work in dozens of guitar factories and shops, you might wonder why on earth I would subject myself to this. The answer is that you can always learn something new if you know what to watch for. New and correct information is certainly what most of us are hoping for when we spool up a video.
The first thing I look for is if a shop is organized and relatively clean. I say relatively, because woodworking is, by nature, somewhat messy. All that cutting and sanding creates shavings and dust that’s hard to control completely. Most decent shops have some sort of dust collection, so when you spy ankle-deep wood shavings, you might wonder where the priorities are. Wood dust is flammable at best and explosive at worst, so if you buy a guitar from a shop that’s a ticking time-bomb, you may not be able to count on any long-term customer service. I’ve written before about the benefits of being well-ordered, and I think that it speaks volumes about the builder’s attitude. Clutter slows things down as little interruptions in the workflow add up to mistakes or even bankruptcy. I’m not saying that great work can’t be done in a messy shop, but I’m not a gambling man either.
“Wood dust is flammable at best and explosive at worst, so if you buy a guitar from a shop that’s a ticking time-bomb, you may not be able to count on any long-term customer service.”
For a guy who hates hammers, I’ve got a lot of them. Sometimes it’s the only tool that will get the job done. One task that a hammer isn’t good at is fretting. Sure, that’s the way it used to be done back in the good old days—you know, when all those unplayable budget guitars were being sold at department stores. I cringe when I see builders smacking a neck with a hammer, and you should too. In a repair shop, there’s room for the hammer as an adjustment tool, but it takes hundreds of hours to get really good at it.
The problem is that hammers aren’t very consistent, and seating frets properly demands uniformity. Hit the fret a little too hard and it’s buried, not hard enough and you get a high fret. That’s why the best shops use a mechanical press of some sort.
This brings me to another chilling moment in guitar videos: the fret leveling. Fretwire manufacturing is a precise art with tight tolerances well within the range of good playability. That means if the fretboard is true and all the frets are seated properly, no fret leveling is needed at all. So, when a video is about doing a “fret job” on a brand-new build, you know that something was botched in an earlier step. Fret filing is reserved for compensating for uneven fret wear or impact damage. Of course, if the fretboard radius is sloppy, there’s no way the frets will be level regardless of how you put them in. I roll my eyes when I see a hand router on a plywood fixture used to crown a fretboard. It’s certainly faster than sanding with a radius block or swing fixture, but not nearly as accurate. To be clear, if a router is followed with a more precise shaping process, it’s perfectly acceptable. But you can see that if the first step isn’t right, it’s just kicking the can down the road as everything after that compounds the issue.
Finishing is another area that separates the good from the bad and ugly. A good spray painter is amazing to watch, as they systematically layer smooth and consistent passes over an instrument. You don’t want to see the painter waving the gun around from side to side with a lot of wrist movement like they’re watering a garden. The trick is keeping the speed and distance consistent. When done correctly, clear coats lay out flat and shiny and barely need to be buffed. It takes a long time to learn, but when you get it right, it’s like magic.
There are a lot of great ideas and unconventional yet effective methods to be seen in how-to videos. I’m always happy when I see something brilliant and noteworthy, but occasionally it’s the opposite. Just like the “lessons” that don’t quite get the chords right or ignore the fact that a song was recorded in an open tuning, home-guitar-building videos are not always insight into best practices. That’s doesn’t mean that they can’t be entertaining. So, get out the popcorn and settle in for some luthier jump scares.