Visit to Folkway Music

On Tuesday my pal Dr. Dave Walker and I went up to Guelph with my girls to visit Mark and his staff at Folkway Music. It was a pretty great feeling to pull out the guitars one by one and each time get a positive reaction. With out a doubt Mark was taken aback by my approach to guitar construction and even though he is a loyal lover of fine vintage instruments he shared a sincere and enthusiastic interest in what I have created.

Let's back up a bit...

My player friend David Gillis told me a few months back that I should take my guitars up to Folkway and get Mark to check them out because Mark is a fine fretted instrument expert and a straight shooter who does not hold back on offering an honest and sometimes blunt opinion. David said something to the effect of "I think it will be a good experience for you AND if you pass the Mark Test you know your doing things right. He will tell you exactly what he thinks" I immediately conjured up an image of an older, distinguished looking silver haired gentleman. An old music man type that would be stuck on tradition and who may be difficult to win over with a non traditional design. Ya know...a bow tie wearing guy.

When I opened the door to Folkway and approached the front counter a bunch of young guys were sitting at a bench wrapping up their lunch. I locked eyes with the alpha and said "Hi, I'm Pete Swanson of Dagmar Custom Guitars. I'm here to see Mark." I thought for sure I would be told to wait a second and they would go to the back and out would come the man who I had envisioned. Instead the one who I introduced myself to was Mark. He said "I'm Mark!" Man oh man that took me off guard! He's around my age.

I said "Hey! Nice to meet you! I'll just get the guitars from the car and show you what I've got." I brought the axes in and lifted them out of the cases one by one in the order in which they were built. First was Jennie my second checkerboard patterned symmetrical acoustic archtop made of Honduras Mahogany and Flame Maple. He had a very favorable reaction and looked back at his staff and may have even said "Check this thing out!" My nervous system was buzzing and I began to get tunnel vision. I focused on Mark's expression. I definitely remember Mark looking at the guitar in a very direct way with specific objectives. His eyes could have burnt the wings off of a fly. Thank God he started off with positive comments because each one relaxed me and I could feel my nervousness subside. He broke out his inspection mirror and asked my permission to look inside the guitar. I said "Of course." He did and he was genuinely intrigued and impressed. The words "neat" and "cool" entered my ears and I felt my pride begin to brim.

Next to come out was Mary Lou W, my electric inspired by Charlie Christian, made of Cooked Flame Maple with accents of red veneer, Antique Ivory finished top and finished Ebony appointments. Mark was very complimentary on my Ebony Tailpiece design and asked how I made it, at the same time offering the answer himself "table saw and then router?" "Yes, exactly." I said and then I pointed out the metal behind the logo inlay and tailpiece inlay along with the red tinted Epoxy and demonstrated how light seems to reflect out of them. He told me of a builder friend of his who uses tinfoil embedded in his logo design that creates a 3D nugget looking effect. We were getting along great and then the unexpected...

A wee boy, maybe 6 approached the counter, holding up high a tattered $10.00 bill. My first thought was; great timing kid and why aren’t you in school? Mark looked down toward the boy and in a non threatening kid friendly kind of a way asked "Hey buddy can I help you?". The boy uttered an awkwardly cute and quiet request "Can I..Can I... do you have a Banjo pick?" Mark served the boy like the VIP he was - a Folkway Music customer. I helped too because the Banjo pick tray was more accessible to me. I handed the boy his small thumb pick and Mark gave him his change. The transaction made an impression on me. Mark is a good guy, an approachable professional who respects his customers.

Last out was Eve. My prototype single cutaway acoustic made entirely of 50,000 year old Ancient Kauri wood from New Zealand. I personally love the tone of this guitar and I feel as if I made a breakthrough with how to save weight in my design and followed the trend of using a lower break angle to get a sweeter tone and to have it react more on the pianissimo side of touch - something that was shown to me in Montreal. I shared my experience building Eve with Mark and told him that the guitar was at times hell to build and how she fought me every step of the way. It was a total challenge to figure out how to close up her rim. Behind us at the front of the store Mary Lou W was being plugged in and Mark told me to go and listen. I have not really heard her being played through too many amps so I was more than happy to do so.

I should also mention that Mark is a left handed player which also threw me. He can play a right handed guitar with the strings upside down! Again I was impressed because when he strings up his guitar the bass is at the top - crazy that he can play both ways. Any who...

Mary Lou W was plugged into an awesome sounding tube amp and she went for a stroll with one of Mark's leading men. I can't recall this man's name but he played beautifully and said he really grooved on her fat dark sound and string clarity. He also was impressed with how much roll off there was on the tone knob. Jason Lollar makes great pickups! The sound he was getting from the guitar was EXACTLY what I have always wanted to hear her sound like. There was a bit of single coil hum but man she sounded good and absolutely no feedback. The guitar was right in front of the amp too.

After this mini session I returned her to Mark's counter where he had been left alone with Jennie and Eve. He reassured me that he liked my guitars and thought they were the products of some very creative designing and were well crafted. Then out came what I hoped wouldn't – the critique. He told me my nuts needed work. He said the string height was too high at the nut - the playability and string height on the rest of the fretboard was good along with the fret work and leveling. I felt a ping in the bottom of my gut. Awe man...I gently whimpered in side - Even though this is an easy fix I still felt a bit embarrassed (all over 1000ths of an inch). He maybe saw that I was hurt and said "Hey man if that's the only thing that I can find for you to improve upon your doin' all right." He said for my first batch of guitars, let alone for any guitar, that they were finely crafted and I should be proud. However, this did not stop him from laying into Eve. He said out of the three Eve was his least favourite. He said he didn't like her tone as much as the others and then pointed out that the string break angle was too low for his taste. Again he reassured me that tone is and always will be a subjective thing and there is no right or wrong. He then showed me all of Eve's little glitches that I am already well acquainted with and that have already given me a few sleepless nights - the man sees EVERYTHING. Lastly, he made it clear that he thinks water based varnish lacks a certain lustering magic when compared to a traditional French polish or even a nitro. I listened to his opinion but spraying solvent based stuff will never be an option for me and French polish is perhaps in the future once I have time for yet another learning curve. I feel compelled to say, and perhaps it's an ego thing, that everyone that I have ever shown the guitars to have all been impressed with my water based finishes.

All in all it was a great visit! Mark and I traded company shirts and both agreed it was a pleasure. Mark knows very well what a tough slug it is for us luthiers and wished me the best of luck. Dr. Dave took some old school shots of us with his little disposable (lol) for his blog (I forgot my bloody camera!) and I decided right then and there that I will be visiting Mark again. I want him to show me his set up methods and wire up my upcoming Ontario Art Council Grant Guitar. Undoubtedly Mark is a good guy to know and to consult. With his input and involvement I know that I'll be all the more protected from any would be critics.

Any guitar lover would enjoy a visit to Folkway Music. It's a destination location shop and well worth the trip! Folkway Music also hosts performances by various acts and there is a calender of upcoming events on their website. Hmmmmm....a Dagmar Custom Guitars night would be pretty cool - eh Mark?

www.folkwaymusic.com

Dr. Dave has a very popular blog geared toward guitar music of all genres. He generates 500 hits per day! Obviously worth checking out.
http://blog.davewalkermusic.com/