Comments and Questions for Dave White

Enjoyed reading this thanks both! Quick question to start the ball rolling: while you can make yourself any instrument, what if anything would tempt you to owning an instrument by another luthier?

Great piece! Well done both

Superb article - far and away better than anything I have read in the commercial magazines. Great use of "multi-media" to give form to the concepts and ideas.

It is a wonderful reminder how human skill, imagination and dedication can translate inanimate pieces of wood into magical sounds with the power to inspire and to move. I still have a lump in my throat from markthomson 's Vatersay Bay.

Some questions for Dave:

§ Do you have any particular favourites among the instruments you have made? If so, why?
§ If you had the time and money to make any instrument for yourself that you could, what would it be?
§ Your distinctive "signature sound"and design principles seem to have developed in a relatively short time. How did you advance so far in 10 years?
§ Who is the source of your Scot's Gaelic names?

My thanks to both Dave and Keith for all their time and effort in producing such an informative, entertaining and very well written piece.



Brian

A fantastic feature for my favourite luthier!

I truly love my Samhain, I'm very lucky to have it......I played a gig recently in a large-ish room with a great acoustic, and both Samhain and Fangorn completely filled the room without any assistance from amplification, and it was a hugely enjoyable gig from my perspective. In my experience it's uncommon to find an instrument which is equally as rewarding sonically for the player and the listener, but Dave's instruments consistently do this for me.

Top Man!

My question -
1) What is the most annoying aspect of building an instrument? I have no patience when it comes to fiddly work, of which there seems to be lots in a guitar build.

Cracking interview that

I'm lucky enough to have been able to commission Mr White to craft two instruments for me (AND I have adopted Celtic Tigger - a travel guitar bouzouki who is a joy to play). I always anticipated emails from Dave telling me that he'd thought about something and how would I feel about.... in my build - these occasionally referenced Debbie who offered aesthetic input.

Questions:

1. I wonder, Dave, if (other than chipboard!) there's a wood that you would never use for an instrument (either because of tone, safety issues or some other reason?

2. Has CITES stifled your creativity or has sourcing alternatives increased your understanding of woods?

My questions.

1. What do you have in your wood locker? Do you have any 'private stock' sets which you have saved for special projects?

2. Is there any part of the guitar building process you enjoy or dislike more than others?

3. If there was one famous guitarist (dead or alive) you'd wish to play one of your guitars who would it be?

4. What do you think of the future of guitar making will be?

Shubbs,



Not really. My wood stash is pretty small compared to most builders as I don't make that many instruments. Most of what I have is on the "Options" page of my website and I can get a wide variety of woods in from Bob Smith at "Exotic Hard Woods" for commissions. Part of me wishes I had invested more in tonewoods as their price rise has outperformed the Stock Markets and other investment options but I have limited storage space.



I love starting a new instrument - everything fresh and the chance to make things better - and I love stringing up and hearing the first real sounds of an instrument. I also love "voicing" the top. Some tasks such as making batches of reverse kerfed linings are more repetitive and take a chunk of time aren't as exciting but they open up "thinking time" opportunities. Tidying up the workshop is also not high on the favourites list.



I used to think about that question a lot but over the years have learned that there is a sort of Karma that means an instrument will find its spiritual home. I feel blessed to have people like Mark Thomson, James Daubney, Joe Bardwell and Keith Chesterton amongst others that play my instruments in concert settings and make amazing music with them. Fame isn’t everything.



I think the future of guitar making is very bright indeed. By and large the steel stringed instrument building community is a very open and sharing one taking the view that by pooling knowledge everybody gains and you create an innovative and evolutionary environment – this is very liberating indeed. There are lots of paths that this can taken involving both wooden instruments and those made from composite materials. I think that the pressure on conserving wood in the wild may well lead to the debunking of the current obsession with certain tonewoods being “essential” to make great acoustic guitars. Views on what is “traditional” in any craft or art form tends to be very much rooted in fashion and fad rather than logic – stringed instruments have been made for thousands of years not just in some “Golden Age” around the 1920’s to 1940’s. Evolution and a melting pot of different ideas are what keep them “living” – think of Dylan/Fairport Convention and “Folk Music” and Mike McGoldrick and “Traditional Music”. There are lots of new makers following their own muses so the choice for customers is huge.

The future for guitar makers is as it has always been – a hard path and if you want to make a living from it alone be single with a very sparse lifestyle, win the lottery or marry a rich wife.