Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of Brian Moss's Guitar: The Raven
-
@andrewthomas said in Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of The Raven:
...Read every book/article you can get your hand on about building. If there is anything I’ve learned over the years is that what I don’t know about building guitars is greater that what I do know. I believe that will always be true, and I kind of like that about this constantly-growing trade.
Greatness is, in part, recognizing what you know as well as the incredible depth of what you don't know. I had a professor that used to insist we call him by his first name. I once asked him why and he said "Some people get a PhD and they think they know everything. Others realize they've climbed the hill and when they look around they see all the other countless hills that are still there to be climbed."
I think too, that mastery comes from passion. The Spafford boys didn't become great because they knew they had to practice. They practiced because it was their passion. I remember Cam telling me that he is obsessive about playing. That that's what he does with his free time. I can see too, in my life, the way that building Spaffnerds has contributed to my overall skills at being a software engineer. If you want to transcend good and attain great you have to breathe the skill you're in pursuit of. It's clear as day that that's true for you Andrew.
-
@andrewthomas said in Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of The Raven:
@dontjudgedave said in Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of The Raven:
I have been very interested for a long time (built a few parts-casters and lots of guitar rewiring) but never a full build. Would you suggest schooling? I previously looked into Roberto-Venn out in Phoenix but couldn't justify the cost after spending so much on an art degree (not to mention loan repayment has me stuck at my current job). Or is this something better learned through apprenticeship?I would definitely suggest schooling. I know it is expensive, but you’ll find ways of paying off the loans. Roberto-Venn is a great school to start, especially if you have never really sharpened a chisel or used a bandsaw. It is a crash course (5 months/40+ hours a week in the shop) so you really learn a lot very quickly. Many well-known and successful luthiers got the start there, and that helps getting your foot in the door elsewhere.
A lot of builders also get their start working in a repair shop. Though it doesn’t seem as exciting, you do get to examine dozens of different guitars per week and get an idea of each makers building philosophy. Sometimes that means getting baffled by ingenuous ideas that you may never comprehend and sometimes it means learning how the sausage gets made and how could they ever put that big of a price tag on that guitar.
I also think you should apprentice everywhere you can. Challenge your perspective as much as possible. Every luthier has developed unique techniques and some will make sense to you and some won’t. I definitely incorporated many different techniques and ideas in the creation of the Raven.
Read every book/article you can get your hand on about building. If there is anything I’ve learned over the years is that what I don’t know about building guitars is greater that what I do know. I believe that will always be true, and I kind of like that about this constantly-growing trade.
Thanks for the encouragement! I came really close to pulling the trigger and selling everything to go back to school for it. Really wish I got into customizing sooner than I did as it's definitely harder to commit to that now. I've got some friends out in AZ now so the ideas been coming up in my head more glad to hear good things about Roberto Venn too as that was my top choice
You rock, man! Hope to see more guitars from you in the future. Have you ever considered doing a bass for Jordan?
-
@damian preach it buddy, no shit
-
@damian sometimes I tell my employees, “I can’t tell you what greatness is, but when you’re doing it...I’ll let you know”
-
@damian In guitar making, you are dealing will once living beings. Wood is organic and no two pieces of wood are perfectly alike, even if cut from the same tree. Some woods are less dense, some are stronger, and that can make certain species of woods ideal for guitar making. All woods, however, will follow the laws of physics. All objects, including plates of wood, will resonate at certain or multiple frequencies based on the many unique properties of those woods and wood in general. And you can make that piece of wood slightly thinner and it will complete change its resonant frequencies.
I could really go on forever about this, but basically I think that if you pay attention to these properties and measure them very carefully throughout each step of the process, you can begin to control the end result more and more. I’ll never know if it is truly going to “work”, or what perfectly working really means, but I can guarantee that with each build that I am heading in the right direction of maximizing a woods potential to move and create sound.
This takes a lot of planning, time, and research (and a lot of math!). When you have to make a guitar that costs $90, you have to make hundreds in a week, and so this sort of thinking is the last thing on your agenda. Even $1000+ guitars, you just cant afford the cost doing all these extra steps to maximize each guitars potential.
Now I will say that sometimes all the stars align and a factory will produce a guitar that sounds AMAZING! All the woods were cut and manipulated just right and they all ended up on the same guitar. Of course, this sort of thing is incredibly rare and more often that, many guitars are produced that don’t work very well , or even close to their maximum potential. In my opinion, that is just a lot of wasted wood.
-
Oh you know exactly which parts…
I’m a sucker for that guitar played clean…songs like Hollywood, Sweet, Legend, and recently Radio.
Brian coming out solo and playing The Man was pretty special for me.
The Postman peak at the end is always amazing - Brian will bend what I think is the highest note of the song, and then shortly after he will go higher… and then higher.
I always enjoy the intro to Ain’t that Wrong.
Alternate ending…al of it
Beautiful day - when Brian comes in heavy on the solo. I guess that applies to many songs...When the crowd feeds off the band and vice versa, it really shows in Brian’s playing. It's also great to see Brian really put his whole body into playing that guitar. We all know Brian’s dance moves and when he’s really having a blast up on stage.
-
Ok I have to go! I have to go teach a class now. This has been really great for me and I hope for you all as well. I'm so sorry if I didn't get to your question, but I absolutely will pick up where I left of either tonight or later this week. Thank you all! Bye for now...
-
@andrewthomas thank you for an excellent reply. Very very cool.
-
@RadiantDarkness what show was that? I'd like to add it to the show notes for that show. Seems an important part of 'spaffistory.'
-
@damian said in Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of The Raven:
@RadiantDarkness what show was that? I'd like to add it to the show notes for that show. Seems an important part of 'spaffistory.'
I remember listening to that show on Archive ... I want to say it was a holiday show, a Halloween or New Years...?
-
@andrewthomas thanks for chatting with us, man!
-
@damian 2/20/15 was the first show that Brian played this guitar. I believe Jordan also debuted a new bass that night.
Here he is showing it off before the show:
-
@Frito-Pie said in Q & A: Wednesday 1/10, 5PM Eastern - Andrew J. Thomas, Luthier and Creator Of The Raven:
@damian 2/20/15 was the first show that Brian played this guitar. I believe Jordan also debuted a new bass that night.
Here he is showing it off before the show:
My god @andrewthomas that thing is an absolute work of art.
-
THIS WAS AWESOME!
