Luthier on Luthier with Michael Bashkin

For Episode 15, we sit down with Geoff Luttrell, owner of SF Guitarworks and Sonoma County Guitarworks. Geoff started out as a welder in oil refineries and went through several other careers before owning and operating one of the top guitar repair shops in the United States. Geoff takes us through all the offerings of San Francisco Guitarworks including repairs and classes and we go in-depth into...

Today, Robbie O'Brien is well-known for his growing catalog of online guitar making courses as well as his popular one-on-one guitar making classes. On Episode 14, he and his wife Adrianna tell us about his start building guitars in São Paulo, Brazil, his teaching philosophy and how the act of building a guitar can be transformative for many of his students. Robbie says, "I never planned a career...

For episode 13, we talk with acclaimed guitarmaker Rick Turner. Rick has made, designed and worked on instruments for some of the biggest names in music including the Lindsey Buckingham, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, David Crosby, David Lindley and Ry Cooder, just name a few. In addition to his own line of guitars,  Rick also was a founding partner of Highlander pickups, Alembic guitars, Duncan Turner...

Jordan McConnell is both an accomplished guitar builder and professional musician who spent 10 years touring with The Duhks. On today's podcast, he tells us how he manages to successfully navigate both careers at the same time and about his current musical projects and guitars. Jordan has had quite the journey from "an aimless high school graduate who mostly cared about punk rock and skateboarding...

On episode 11, we sit down with Jeremy Jenkins, who builds Lame Horse Guitars alongside his father Chris. Jeremy tells us how he fell into guitarmaking through his father and how it ended up becoming a full-time career. He talks about his life in the music city of Austin and how the role of music has changed for him over time. We also learn about what makes a bad movie good, and about his many oth...

On episode 10, we head to Texas to sit down with Chris Jenkins of Lame Horse Guitars. Along with his son Jeremy, Chris builds uniquely ornamented guitars, gitjoes and ukuleles. On this podcast, he walks us through his first career in accounting (which lasted just sixty days) and then his second career as a veterinarian (which lasted forty years). Along the way, Chris decided to fix the broken neck...

For our ninth episode, I sit down with Dream Guitars founder and owner, Paul Heumiller. If you build or play custom guitars you probably already know Paul's name and that Dream Guitars is one of the top boutique guitar dealers in the world. Paul discusses his philosophy for life and business and how for him they are one in the same. Paul also talks about how Dream Guitars got started and the succe...

For our eighth episode, I talk to luthier John Slobod. John shares his thoughts on why vintage guitars sound the way they do, and how he honors them in his own Martin-inspired instruments. We also go through John's journey from working with Dana Bourgeois and later with Julius Borges before starting his own Circa guitars. In this interview, John also offers some valuable advice to new luthiers.  ...

Our seventh episode of the Luthier on Luthier podcast is a little different from the rest. Rather than interview one builder, I have shorter interviews with several luthiers. Each of these interviews took place at the 2017 GAL (Guild of American Luthiers) Convention in Tacoma, Washington.  During this podcast, you will hear from Dan Erlewine, Erick Coleman, Chelsea Clark, Jeffery Elliott, Chris He...

On Episode 6, I sit down with world-renown guitar maker Michi Matsuda. Originally from Japan and now living in the US, Michi is known for his inventive designs and craftsmanship. We stay mostly in the head-space of guitar making and talk about what is the identity of a guitar and how it affects music. And, I was surprised to learn how free-spirited Michi's approach to guitar making is.    

On this month's podcast, I sit down with Dave Bruzza, lead guitarist of the contemporary band Greensky Bluegrass. We follow his career path from an aspiring luthier in Michigan all the way to his career today as a successful professional guitar player. We also dig into his guitar quiver and discuss what he values in each of his acoustics. Bruzza's on-stage gear is ever evolving, which he also disc...

On episode 4 of the Luthier on Luthier podcast, I interview classical guitar maker John Bogdanovich. John aspired to be a professional classical guitar player but was waylaid by stage fright and went onto another career path before he came to study with renown woodworker James Krenov. His studies with Krenov eventually led him back to the guitar world but this time as a maker. John is also the aut...

Before moving to the United States, Laurent Brondel was a professional musician in France for 20 years. He originally moved to New York and, along the way, Laurent started to work on his own guitars. Laurent eventually found himself in rural Main and, after working for a time at Bourgeois guitars he started building guitars under his own name. For our third episode, Laurent and I talk about this j...

Burton  Legeyt started building guitars without any formal training or apprenticeship.  Instead he came to guitarbuilding through painting, picture framing, metal working and vintage watchmaking equipment. His open-minded approach gives his guitars a distinctive look and feel, even down to the tuning machines. In this interview we cover restoring vintage tooling, his definition of art, why he star...

Ervin  Somogyi   is often referred to as the luthier's luthier: Hi s guitars are among the most well-known and sought after custom instruments being made today.  Ervin has influenced the custom guitar world, not with his own guitars, but also by training some of today's top builders and by authoring his two-book series  the Responsive Guitar . For our debut episode of Luthier on Luthier, Ervin and...