 |
"This guitar was made for me by the storied Canadian
luthier/singer-songwriter William 'Grit' Laskin. He is perhaps best known
for his spectacularly artistic inlay work, but to my mind he is one of the
best pure guitar makers ever. I own three of his instruments, but this one,
called 'The Bluesman,' is my workhorse. It was 1988, I believe, that I met Grit. We were both appearing in a Canadian Folk Festival and as we sat backstage he handed me his guitar. I played it, loved it, and then found out that he'd made it himself. 'Could you make me one?' I asked. And so he did. About a month before it was finished Grit called me up and said, 'What do you want on the headstock?' Caught offguard, I said, 'Hmm, how about an old bluesman with an acoustic guitar?' Grit said, 'Interesting. I've never done a black man before.' So he went to his local library in Toronto (this is before Google, don't you know) and found a picture of an anonymous African-American guitar player and, using that as his inspiration, created this unique headstock out of mother-of-pearl and silver and brushed copper and exotic woods. Early on I had to decide whether this guitar was a beautiful museum piece or a working axe, and I decided that I wanted to play it, not curate it. And so I have taken it with me on concert tours and airlines and recording sessions for close to fifteen years, and it has the scratches and dings to prove it. The sound has grown and sweetened over the years as well, and you can hear it on many of my recordings and, most likely, will see and hear me playing it if you come to a live show. Check out Grit's website, you won't be sorry!" |
|
|
This is my William “Grit” Laskin “Sisters” guitar. Grit is a wonderful luthier and a world-renowned inlay artist. When the guitar was almost finished he emailed asking what image I wanted on the headstock. I sent him a photo of my then teenage daughters Lily & Abigail. Now they accompany me, onstage and off, whenever I pick up this beautiful instrument. Check out his website: www.williamlaskin.com |
|
Photo by John Bruno |
"This is one of my favorite recording and live guitars. It is a Martin M-38, a model that Martin does not offer anymore, except as a special order. It was Harry's last guitar, purchased in 1981, the year he died. The genesis of the model is interesting. It started as an old - pre-1945 F-Hole Martin that didn't sound very good. Someone, I believe guitarist extraordinaire David Bromberg, brought one in to Matt Uminov (his guitar store was in Greenwich Village) and asked him to fit a flattop onto the body. He did, resetting the neck angle, and came up with this beautiful hybrid that Martin began to issue." |
|
 |
What is this guitar?
A Martin? Gibson? Collings? Taylor? Huss and Dalton? Nope. A rare bird indeed. It’s sunburst, with maple sides and back, designed and built by T. J. Thompson – a one of a kind instrument, made by a storied luthier with long years of experience repairing and then building pre-war-style Martin guitars. I was introduced to his work by another master, my old friend Roger Sadowsky, who showed me his Martin-style orchestra model that T. J. had built. I picked it up and played it and immediately knew I wanted one. Roger put me in touch and I talked to T. J.: Do you want one like Roger’s? No, I am a big guy, can you build a larger body. Sunburst? Yes, of course, how about maple? That’d be fine, but I dislike the way the white maple looks onstage, as the hole is brighter than the guitar. No problem, I can darken the inside down a bit. Great! A few months later, I got this dream guitar. No markings, just a signature way down deep inside. John Wallace, my brother Harry’s wonderful bassist, calls this my “Stealth Guitar.” |
 |
|
More info to come. | |
 Photo by John Claeys |
More info to come. |
 |
 |
More info to come. |  Photo by Bob Yahn |
|
I first heard this story from Bruce Taylor, of Weston CT, the maker of Pete’s 12 string guitars, who also made himself (and then me) a copy of Pete’s banjo. Later I got the chance to ask Pete himself about it and he clarified some details. At some point, years ago, Pete decided to try and make his own banjo neck out of ironwood, lignam vitae I believe. And he did, carving out that hard, dense wood into the longneck shape he’d invented, and attaching it to an old Vega Whyte Laydie banjo rim. However, he had a very hard time with the fingerboard and frets, and it just would not play in tune. So Pete brought his handiwork down to Greenwich Village to the shop of John D’Angelico (the superlative luthier whose jazz guitars now are museum items, selling for $40k or more) and asked him to re-fret the neck. Mr. D’Angelico said yes, giving the banjo job to his assistant, John D’Aquisto (whose guitars are now almost as famous as his mentor’s) and had him put on an ebony fingerboard with a perfect new fret job. Never having worked on a banjo before, John measured his finger-board like a guitar, from the middle of the drum head, instead of toward the far side, and Pete told me that he had to take it back and have D’Aquisto’s beautiful fret job redone. And that is the banjo that Pete Seeger played for a long, long time - a Vega Whyte Laydie rim, with his own hand-made ironwood neck, and a fret job done twice by the young John D’Aquisto - cool. In his last years Pete found that banjo to be too heavy to carry and perform with, and had another, much lighter one built by a local luthier, R. J. Storm, in Beacon NY. The banjo I have, built by Bruce Taylor, is a replica of Pete’s original – it has a dogwood neck, not ironwood but also quite heavy. On the left is a picture of me with that banjo next to the Pete statue in Teaneck, NJ. |
  |
 |
More info to come. |
 |
|
More info to come. |
 |