Guitar Makers:The Endurance of Artisanal Values in N America
Jan 5, 2015 11:23:27 GMT
Wild Violet likes this
Post by andyhowell on Jan 5, 2015 11:23:27 GMT
Guitar Makers: The Endurance of Artisanal Values in North America by Kathryn Marie Dudley.
This new book will be a must for many of you. I'd not heard of this before but it arrived as a Christmas Present from a relative who saw it in Waterstones and thought it looked interesting. It certainly was.
This is the story of the development of the new artisan and boutique acoustic guitar world in North America, starting with early pioneers such as Cumpiano and Gurian and moving on to cover today's world. Many of those you would want to see interviewed in a book like this are — here you will find Linda Manzer, Richard Hoover, Jeff Traugott, Grit Laskin, Jean Larrivee, Michael Millard and many more. There are also lengthy pieces with Martin and Gibson which explore have these companies have set out to engage with the new producers.
The story is a fascinating one and Dudley presents a very detailed description of the way in which this new guitar building ecology has developed, from the days when nobody really knew much about what they were doing to today which, she argues, really is a new and golden age of the luthier's art.
This is more though than a straight account of the development of the modern-day artisan guitar world. Dudley is an anthropologist and as such she is interested in what motivated the early pioneers and what continues to drive builders on. She looks at the various guilds and shows that have developed to support the makers and has a look at the different values that underpin these initiatives.
I won't say too much as I want you folks to be as fascinated as I was by it. Because Dudley is an academic the book occasionally has the tone of a PHD that has been built on but to be fair for most of the time this is an easy book to read and digest. On the plus side, the level of analysis and thinking that has gone into this is somewhat greater that we are used to see in, for example, magazines.
Here we learn about what drove these makers into being luthiers. We learn about the different business factors that have developed along the way. For example, we see the world developing as those luthiers who got a lot of attention found that their order books were stretching into years; as a result the second hand market in their products raced ahead and these, genuinely non profit orientated artisans, were forced to revise their pricing to cope with second hand demand — hence the current pricing for some of the world's most prominent makers.
While acknowledging the existence of this new golden age Dudley is not complacent in automatically assuming it will continue. Towards the end of the book she looks at some of the real challenges facing the industry and reflects the concerns of some that the field is built on baby boomers building and selling to other rich baby boomers — some people buy Harley Davidson's when they reach a certain age and others buy guitars! Will there be a next generation.
A fascinating book and well worth recommending. It is not a cheap hardback but it is available on Kindle and other e-readers. This is a purely text book and as such there are a few graphs in it but no real colour photos; this will work fine on a kindle.
This new book will be a must for many of you. I'd not heard of this before but it arrived as a Christmas Present from a relative who saw it in Waterstones and thought it looked interesting. It certainly was.
This is the story of the development of the new artisan and boutique acoustic guitar world in North America, starting with early pioneers such as Cumpiano and Gurian and moving on to cover today's world. Many of those you would want to see interviewed in a book like this are — here you will find Linda Manzer, Richard Hoover, Jeff Traugott, Grit Laskin, Jean Larrivee, Michael Millard and many more. There are also lengthy pieces with Martin and Gibson which explore have these companies have set out to engage with the new producers.
The story is a fascinating one and Dudley presents a very detailed description of the way in which this new guitar building ecology has developed, from the days when nobody really knew much about what they were doing to today which, she argues, really is a new and golden age of the luthier's art.
This is more though than a straight account of the development of the modern-day artisan guitar world. Dudley is an anthropologist and as such she is interested in what motivated the early pioneers and what continues to drive builders on. She looks at the various guilds and shows that have developed to support the makers and has a look at the different values that underpin these initiatives.
I won't say too much as I want you folks to be as fascinated as I was by it. Because Dudley is an academic the book occasionally has the tone of a PHD that has been built on but to be fair for most of the time this is an easy book to read and digest. On the plus side, the level of analysis and thinking that has gone into this is somewhat greater that we are used to see in, for example, magazines.
Here we learn about what drove these makers into being luthiers. We learn about the different business factors that have developed along the way. For example, we see the world developing as those luthiers who got a lot of attention found that their order books were stretching into years; as a result the second hand market in their products raced ahead and these, genuinely non profit orientated artisans, were forced to revise their pricing to cope with second hand demand — hence the current pricing for some of the world's most prominent makers.
While acknowledging the existence of this new golden age Dudley is not complacent in automatically assuming it will continue. Towards the end of the book she looks at some of the real challenges facing the industry and reflects the concerns of some that the field is built on baby boomers building and selling to other rich baby boomers — some people buy Harley Davidson's when they reach a certain age and others buy guitars! Will there be a next generation.
A fascinating book and well worth recommending. It is not a cheap hardback but it is available on Kindle and other e-readers. This is a purely text book and as such there are a few graphs in it but no real colour photos; this will work fine on a kindle.
Jo whoever he is.
