By Doron Markowitz
Hello again, and welcome to another installment
of Luthier’s
Corner. For this month’s interview, I was honored with
the opportunity to speak with Andrew J. Scott of Blindworm Guitars,
in Colorado Springs, CO. For those that don’t know, Blindworm
Guitars creates instruments that are equal parts music and artwork,
by literally carving the most elaborate musical sculpture out
of wood! His creations are useable art. I have included some
pictures of his work so you can see what I mean. His work is
extraordinary and I learned so much about him and his craft through
the course of this discussion.
Doron: Hello Andrew, and thank you very much for taking
the time to sit with me to talk about the art of lutherie. I
appreciate your time. Tell me a little bit about how you got
started carving guitars, how you started Blindworm Guitars and
what the company philosophy is.
Andrew:
Thanks for the invite Doron. I’ve been a lifelong
musician and artist. After college I opened a commercial
art and custom woodworking business out here in Colorado.
I spent a few years of building all sorts of random objects
and elaborate furniture, and frequently held jam sessions
in my shop. It was only a matter of time before I put
two and two together, and started making my first instruments.
In the beginning I focused more on acoustic instruments.
My first builds and orders were violins, banjos, mandolins,
cellos even. The art-centered approach was there from
the start though. As my custom orders grew, they gravitated
more into the custom electric bass guitar market, and eventually
on to the 6-strings. Now the latter two make up almost
all of the builds.
I ran a full service instrument repair service for the first
few years to get Blindworm Guitars off the ground, and slowly
tapered that off as the custom orders started to flow steadily.
I have enlisted some great and talented help recently, and
we are starting to get through these orders a bit more rapidly.
I like to think of our philosophy, as “no sacrifices”.
What this means to me, is that there will be no sacrifices
to the wants and creative desires of the customer. No corners
cut to create the guitars we build, and no limits to the
design, electronics, and functional needs of the guitar being
built. If you can dream it, I’ll find a way to put
it together. And not as a toy on the wall, but a fully usable
and satisfying instrument. Without sacrifice. |
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Doron: How can someone order a guitar from you?
Andrew: I prefer to be contacted via a phone call or social
media to let me know who you are and the basics. But then it
typically is all worked out through emails. Depending on the
intensity of the build, the design process can take up to a month
or more of daily email discussion to nail down exactly what the
customer is wanting. Some of the more elaborate builds will go
through a handful of different designs laid out for review before
the final product is settled on. I take pride in the clarity
of the design presented before the build commences. I love how
the end product matches the expectations.
The number is 719-291-8406, and email is blindwormguitars@gmail.com
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Doron: Did you do any other type
of wood working before beginning to craft guitars?
Andrew: In my commercial art business I
built all kinds of furniture. We did a lot of antique remodeling
and such, build commercial signs, and dabbled in some unusual
restaurant and bar design and construction a bit. I also
did a good deal of smaller intricate work such as jewelry
making, custom trophies, tap handles, you name it. I’ve
tried to build one of everything I could secure a customer
for.
Doron: What was it that made you
decide to devote your life to crafting instruments?
Andrew: When I made my first instrument,
a crude upright bass thingy, it all sort of clicked in
my brain as to how and why I got here. After a lifetime
of making all sorts of things and learning all kinds of
trades, I had found one that I felt could encompass all
of my passions. The art, the music, the precision woodworking,
the sculpting and inlay work, the creative customization
processes. It was all there. My soul rang like a bell that
day and I knew I was at home. |
Doron: Did you find that the guitars on the market lacked something
that you thought you could improve upon, which made you decide
to become a luthier?
Andrew: Absolutely. Many great builders
big and small are starting to make a better axe available to
the populous, so the ability to acquire a more adequate guitar
is becoming more and more of a reality. But like in my commercial
art business, I wanted to provide an unlimited palette of creation
for a customer. If someone wants a guitar carved out of a stack
of recycled shoes, or a rock from the moon, I’ll do my
best to make the dream a reality. It can get pricy though.
I have often built parts of the guitar like nuts, bridges and
other hardware, out of meteorite, jade, and rare stones and
bones. I did a bass with a granite fretboard once. Many of
our axes lately are built with full MIDI capability.
Doron: How long have
you been crafting stringed instruments?
Andrew: It was February of 2005 when I
made my first few, and by 2006 I had completely converted
the woodshop to instruments full time.
Doron: What do you look for in tone
woods?
Andrew: It varies a lot depending on the
customer. I spend a great deal of time to comparing new
and unusual woods to the tonal qualities of more well-known
woods. A good part of making a visually striking instrument
is to supply a good palette of alternatives to the traditional
tone woods. It can be quite a surprise to people to learn
the options. I ask for customers to tell me the brands
and models etc. that they like the sounds of. Many folks
know what kind of neck wood or fretboards they like, and
that gives me a great start to compare a slew of new options
for them.
I also don’t order wood from anywhere except for
the most extreme requested circumstances. I go great lengths
to hand-select each plank that enters into my shop. I can
say confidently that I have personally picked or been gifted
99% of the wood I have ever used. You might catch me in
a lumberyard bouncing a certain board on the concrete to
listen for a chime-y marimba-like tone, or tapping a piece
of wood balanced in the air. |
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Doron: Are there things unrelated to the
guitar that inspires a new idea or concept that you incorporate
into guitar building, like certain architecture, or nature,
etc? Where do you draw inspiration from for some of your
builds? (I’m
lumping the last two questions together)
Andrew: I get asked this a lot. I often jokingly answer that
my inspiration comes from the universe. I do love the organic
flows of nature. A lot of designs that I have a part in conceptually
incorporate some form of mythology, often twisted a little.
Customers have brought a lot of it to the table as well, with
astrological signs, favorite movies, spirituality, and so on.
Doron: What is your philosophy in regards to
guitar crafting? (the no sacrifices philosophy as mentioned above.)
I noticed that your guitars are equal parts instrument and artwork/sculpture.
How long did it take you to hone your carving skills, and what
was the most difficult carving you have done to date?
Andrew: I remember some of my first carvings began around age
10. Whittling wizard faces into balsa wood and such. It was a
slow gradual process that picked up immensely when I started
the commercial artistry business.
The “Larkspur Rose” guitar was definitely my biggest
challenge. You can easily find a video about it on YouTube. The
body of the guitar is a full 3-D sculpture of a Cancer crab embracing
the Gemini twins. I hadn’t done a lot in the ways of people
before that one. It was a real trick to figure out how to have
all of the crab’s arms and women’s’ body parts
intertwine while keeping within a playable surface of a guitar
face. The women’s’ arms go right up into the fretboard
and continue as inlay. In the end, the guitar is perfectly balanced
and comfortable. You can’t even feel that anything different
is going on under your wrist and those strings. Unless you look
down, haha.
Doron: How long does it typically take to carve a guitar for
an average client?
It varies greatly, but can take between 3 months to a year from
the time the design is settled upon.
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Doron:
Is the entire guitar hand carved, or do you use CNC
machines for any part?
Andrew: Everything is hand-crafted. I build
100% from scratch and employ no CNC for any of the processes
whatsoever.
Doron: Being a luthier myself, I
find that I love the smell of exotic woods as I cut
and shape them. What are some of your favorite species
of woods, scent-wise?
Andrew: I love the smell of Cocobolo, and
Roasted Maple is another one that gets me. I enjoy them
all, even the funky ones, but those two hold a special
place in my nose.
Doron: What are some of your favorite
species of woods to work with, carving-wise?
Andrew: I enjoy the way Paduak works, also
Poplar, Beetlekill Ponderosa, Ebony, and Osage Orange.
I know those are woods of very different densities and
hardness, but they all share a smooth consistency to the
tool. |
Doron: Have you ever encountered a project that seemed too much
of a challenge for you to take on?
Andrew: Not in a guitar. I thrive on it. But in commercial woodworking
before the guitars, I did a $55,000 deck once that about killed
me.
Doron: For anyone out there, thinking of a career in lutherie,
what kind of advice would you give them?
When I first got started, I encountered
so many naysayers. An unbelievable amount of luthiers told
me to slow down and try to build more traditional instruments.
Not to re-invent the wheel so to speak. I can truly say that
I am only here now because I didn’t listen to them, at
least about that. However, I have learned the most of my constructional
and practical lutherie knowledge from the hundreds of other
luthiers out there in forums, my city, and books, and I could
not be there without all of the shared knowledge.
So I guess my point is to build what you want to, and take advantage
of all of the great knowledge others have to share. When you
get to the point where people ask you how you did it, return
the favor and share back.
Doron: Thank you so much for taking the time out to talk with
me today, Andrew. I greatly appreciate it. Before we go, is there
anything else you would like to share with our readers?
Andrew: Yes. Don’t settle for a mediocre axe. Find a luthier
that can make you something special. We’re out there. Also,
Star Wars bass guitars rule the galaxy!!!
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D
Guitars Miami has been a full-service repair and manufacturing
shop since 1988 serving South Florida with the highest
attention to detail one can expect. No job too big or
small. Whether you need pickups replaced, new frets,
a total refinish, broken head stock rebuilt, or just
want a custom crafted instrument built to your exacting
specifications, D Guitars Miami can do it all, from acoustic,
to electric, guitar or bass. (305) 896-1811 dguitarsmiami@yahoo.com |
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