Celebration of Craftsmanship

Bod1

I really admire craftsmanship, whether it be playing guitars or making them, I never lose the sense of admiration when somthing is done really well. I really like the tdpri website, cause you get a really passionate community discussion what they love best...tele's.

Yes it's a bit cheesy sometimes, but there is a community of talented craftsmen building from scratch, assembling partscasters and sharing huge amounts of knowledge.

On guy stands out recently in the level of detail he puts into building custom guitars, he's from Israel. He really is a master craftsman.

If you appreciate that type of thing and have a few minutes spare, have a look at this recent 56 replica tele he's built.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/145299-1956-telecaster-build.html

I'll never complain about trying to set up a guitar again !

Ravelleman

I also approve of this concept.

Doctor J

On one hand it's great to see the skill involved. On the other hand it's sad to ignore 60 years of progress and hammer in an obsolete truss rod design, for example.

Bod1

I think sad is the wrong word. In the context of what the guy is achieving on this build it's perfect, it's an exact replica of a specific model, so rather than paying 100k for a blackguard, you get the vibe, tone and feel for a fraction of the price. Every element as been thought through, from buying custom drill bits to making the bakalite pick guard.

That said being a custom maker, you want a 56 build with a modern truss rod, custom pickups etc, he's going going to give it to you.

Doctor J

It's sad, well I find it sad at least. You've got a guy with clearly great skill and, rather than create something new, he's seemingly content just copying the embryonic output of unskilled labour with now primitive equipment. He's just walking in someone else's footprints. It's been done.

It's like someone painting copies of Caravaggio. If you've got the skill, make your own work, express yourself. It's like a luthery tribute band. Create, rather than imitate. The guy has great skill but, to me at least, it's tragic that it seems it isn't accompanied by a creative drive.

Bod1

Fender and Gibson have made a fortune out of doing the same thing....

The originals, Fender, Gibson et al as "generally" accepted as being some of the best instruments produced, whether this is true is purely subjective in my view but there is a place for faithful reproductions of the designs and techniques employed in the originals.

There needs to be a purpose to create something new, "Robot Guitars" perfect example of creating something "new" with no reason behind it.

Great design never ages, how you work within that is an expression of creativity, this guy uses a hugh amount of creativity inginuity and talent to produce beautiful instruments.

The purpose of the post was an admiration of luthery in it's purest form, striving for the best, be it an original or a reproduction, if I had a choice to spend 3k on a Gibson with their quality reputation, manufactured by unskilled workers and out of date CNC machines or a les Paul manufactured by this guy, I know what I'd choose.

Demeyes

He obviously shows he knows what he's doing and put a great deal of skill and attention to detail in that. However the end result is just a telecaster:p
It's interesting that he does his own pickups on top of the woodwork and finishing though.

68 lost souls

This guy has got incredible skill and I really admire him for that, I wish i had the talent to it all by hand like that, hopefully Ill be able to show pictures next week of some more modern techniques for making guitars.

As a designer myself I agree with Doc though if he could link both his talent and creativity into designing some thing new it would be great, maybe even some flare in the design of a telecaster like these guy sdo with the burl top on a Les Paul rather then reproducing an exxisting model.

http://www.bigdguitars.com/

both sides of this arguement are right in a way.

Voodu Child

A telecaster isn't the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the word 'craftsmanship', or celebration of craftsmanship.... It's a bit like nailing a few bits of timber together with butt-joints and calling yourself a cabinet maker :pac:

Actually, I think the telecaster was probably the guitar that first took guitar-making away from the world of luthiery, and toward the realm of simple mass-production. And that is not a bad thing of course, the beauty of the guitar was it's simplicity. But like I say, I wouldn't really use it as a celebration of top-grade craftsmanship.

That said, im not knocking the guy, I can really appreciate the time and effort that he has put into making his own instrument. Fair play indeed.

population

This looks terrible! It doesnt even have any strings:D

Doctor J

Bod1 wrote: »

Fender and Gibson have made a fortune out of doing the same thing....

The originals, Fender, Gibson et al as "generally" accepted as being some of the best instruments produced, whether this is true is purely subjective in my view but there is a place for faithful reproductions of the designs and techniques employed in the originals.

There needs to be a purpose to create something new, "Robot Guitars" perfect example of creating something "new" with no reason behind it.

Great design never ages, how you work within that is an expression of creativity, this guy uses a hugh amount of creativity inginuity and talent to produce beautiful instruments.

The purpose of the post was an admiration of luthery in it's purest form, striving for the best, be it an original or a reproduction, if I had a choice to spend 3k on a Gibson with their quality reputation, manufactured by unskilled workers and out of date CNC machines or a les Paul manufactured by this guy, I know what I'd choose.

Nobody is disputing the value of excellent workmanship or the skill of the guy, I'm just miffed that someone would go to so much effort to build flaws into a new instrument just for the sake of "authenticity", which is a bit silly because no matter how good the guy is, it will never be an "authentic" 50's Telecaster, it'll just be a new Tele built in the old style. The best tribute band in the world are always going to be some fellas pretending to be someone else, it's just not the real thing no matter how skilful they are, they're just walking in someone else's footsteps and, to me at least, this is no different. Besides, the people working for Fender in the early 50's were probably less skilled and certainly less experienced than the people working for Gibson today.

I mean, he's not striving to be the best, he's striving to be an imitator, he's making a replica of a purposely basic design. It would be great to see this guy actually strive to be the best because clearly he is skilled. Dan Lakin or even Paul Reed Smith would be good examples of contemporary luthiers who strived to create something new and succeeded on their own terms with their own designs. Let's have more of that and less tribute bands :pac: