Hello and welcome to the first
installment of "Luthier's
Corner." I'm Doron Markowitz of D Guitars Miami LLC.
I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself to
the musician's community and give you a general overview
of the various topics that I will cover in upcoming installments.
To start, let me tell you a bit about my background and
how I got into this wonderful field of lutherie, and explain
what lutherie is. Lutherie is the art of stringed instrument
making and repair. I built my first guitar when I was in
wood shop in ninth grade. I'd love to say it was the greatest
guitar ever to grace a person's hands, but let's be real.
I was a 14 year old kid who barely knew much about how
a guitar was supposed to be built. But it was what made
me fall in love with this art and made me strive to constantly
improve my skills. It was a little green and white electric
guitar loosely based on the green and white 50's Harmony
Stratotone electric guitar that Ritchie Valens had in the
50's. It was during that time that I apprenticed, for a
couple months, under a local luthier/guitar tech named
Ralph who helped me understand quite a bit about the basics.
Thanks
to his recommendation, I spent 2 years after that
studying under a very well known and established
local luthier, named Keith, that really put me through
my paces. I learned a great deal about fretwork,
guitar electronics, headstock break repairs, finish
work, etc etc. After Keith, I pretty much continued
experimenting on my own guitars, modding and so forth,
as well as taking on my first clients with what limited
knowledge I had at the time. Fast forward now 23
years and, looking back, I still can't believe how
far I've come! The fact that my work has earned the
respect enough of one of my peers, in the music community,
to be asked to write this column, is very humbling
and quite an honor.
OK,
so on to the subject matter
of
upcoming columns.
In "Luthier's Corner",
I plan to cover a wide range of topics for guitar
players of all stripes-from the novice beginner,
to the touring pro. So there will be something for
everyone. I hope you will enjoy reading them. I will
cover topics such as proper setup and maintenance
of electric and acoustic guitars and basses, how
to look for the right guitar to buy for you, differences
in various pickups from single coils to humbuckers,
active to passive, and various other electronics,
the different tonal aspects of different species
of woods used in guitar making, such as maple vs
mahogany, etc, composite guitars, such as graphite,
various types of nut and saddle materials-from bone
to plastic to synthetics, etc, and the pros and cons
of them. |
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I will also discuss
having a custom built guitar versus buying off the rack,
or even buying off the rack and the various modification
options available that can be done. But remember, no matter
what topic I discuss, never try any adjustments or modifications
if you may be unsure of your skills. Take it to a reputable
luthier/tech, such as myself, to do them for you. It's
better to have someone perform these adjustments and modifications
than attempt something that may result in irreversible
damage. Of course, things such as truss rod adjustments,
sighting the straightness of a neck, pickup swaps, adjusting
the bridge action, intonation, radius, even slotting the
nut, can be done by you, if you have a good eye, a steady
hand, and a lot of patience with yourself. And I will explain
these various setup adjustments and more in detail in upcoming
installments so you will be able to approach them with
confidence and not be afraid to touch these certain areas
of your guitar.
That reminds me of a friend I had back
in high school. He had just gotten a beautiful new red
Kramer electric guitar that had a bridge humbucking pickup
and 2 single coils. The bridge pickup had a mini toggle
switch that was wired as a coil tap, which cuts one of
the coils and makes the pickup sound like a single coil.
Well, I asked him what the switch did and he said he didn't
know. I asked why didn't he just flick it and see what
it sounds like. He said he wasn't sure if that was a good
idea or not, that perhaps it would cause some kind of malfunction.
I assured him that it was not a self-destruct switch and
to just flick it and hear what it does. He did, and was
astonished that suddenly the fat humbucker in the bridge
position sounded very similar to the single coil in the
bridge position of his Stratocaster!
My point with this
little story?
Many guitar players are just that,
-only the player and they prefer that someone else do any
type of work on their guitars for them because they are
unsure of themselves in that area. My goal with this column
is to help break that mind set. If I can help one guitar/bass
player out there shake some of their pensiveness/fear of
adjusting a truss rod, sighting the straightness of a neck,
or even swapping out their pickups, then I've done my job.
Now you may be asking yourself, aren't I worried about
giving away my "trade secrets" and losing business?
Not at all! Adjusting a truss rod is not as intense as
fixing a busted headstock or re fretting a twisted neck;
areas I will also cover in the future here.
OK well, thank you so much for reading
this first installment of "Luthier's Corner." I
hope you found it informative and enjoyable. I look forward
to bringing you quite a bit of information in the near
future. Until next time remember, there is nothing you
can't do if you set your mind to it! Cheers!!
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