Cool, but will it play?

Turning the discussion back to the meeting of guitars and art, two weeks ago I was invited by Ft. Lauderdale luthier John Dell'Isola to attend the Newport Guitar Festival. The occasion for us was the debut of a new model for John, which I had covered in hand-stained cowhide.

John is a relatively new presence on the custom guitar-building scene, but the reaction his guitars garnered from numerous seasoned players at the show indicate that he is off to a terrific start. He has had a vision since starting his business of making a leather-covered guitar. One of John's friends spotted my work at a nearby art festival, and passed my card along to him. We met and exchanged ideas, and agreed to try the concept out, the goal being to have a finished guitar done in time for the Newport show. Here, you can see the result.

The big debate among some of John's fellow builders as we got into making this piece was whether or not the leather "skin" would dampen the tonal characteristics of the guitar. The consensus was that the relatively porous cowhide would muffle the sustain. I chose a very dense, thin tooling hide for the job, and laminated it to the unfinished body with contact cement to minimize counteracting vibrations. I sniffed enough glue in the process to render me legally stupid for awhile, but it was worth it. The look on Josh "The Pitbull of Blues" Rowand's face when he test-played our creation at the show said more than any written gear review could ever express.

I don't get it.

I bought a new car the other day. I've been wanting a ride that hearkens back to the glory days of the American muscle car, a politically-incorrect, fire-breathing monster that can melt a set of new tires in a single weekend. I found the embodiment of my dream in the new Dodge Challenger SRT, over 400 horsepower's worth. But before I took delivery, I paid the dealership an extra $500.00 to run some medium-grit sandpaper over the paint and dent the right front fender, so nobody would think I was a novice at driving a serious V8. They were so grateful for the sale that they threw in a modest crack in the windshield, at no extra charge.

Okay, so I'm not selling enough Seventh String Guitar Straps yet to afford a new hot rod. And if I was, I'd be waxing it twice a week, not trying to make it look abused. So I'm missing the point of master-built, custom-crafted guitars with expensive lacquer sanded down to bare wood in key areas, nicks and gouges in others, and the best available hardware corroded with carefully-applied acid.

I am an accomplished and experienced leathersmith, and I make the nicest guitar strap you'll ever use. But I cannot string three chords together on a guitar. If I buy an artificially aged instrument, will you believe I used to jam with Hendrix? Will you look at the wear and tear on it and say, "Hey, this guy's got some heavy stories to tell"? Or will you think I fished it out of the dumpster behind a nearby pawn shop?

Guitar collectors and aficionados, God bless all of you for the energy, the enthusiasm and, yes, the capital you are infusing into the premium musical instrument market during these lean times. May your passion somehow pay you back a hundredfold. But when you buy a nice new guitar, buy a nice new guitar, and let the battle scars come from the times it enjoys with you.