Diversity amongst luthiers and music equipment compnies?

[Bruce Johnson]

I should take back what I said about diversity of emotional maturity. That's not really true. I don't think I've ever met a Luthier who was stiff and crusty and humorless. We discourage that and drive them out of the business. We're all crazy and have a twisted sense of humor. Especially bass builders.

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

I used to watch a lot of Youtube videos of some female luthier from Germany (or maybe Holland). She's in her fifties and makes and fixes mostly modern acoustic guitars, but sometimes electric as well. Alas, for the life of me I cannot remember her name.

 

[conttador]

I personally know Leonardo Bosquez of Bosquez guitars and he’s a good guy, he does all my setups and electronics. If you’re in San Antonio you should check him out!

https://bosquezguitars.com/

Not sure if she’s been mentioned but there’s Lisa Hahn of LEH.

https://www.lehguitars.com/

This is a great thread!

 

[BoesPronounBass]

As a general note, I've been in this business a long time, and much of my work has been doing custom subcontract for other Luthiers. As a result, I have worked with, am friends with, and know of many pro and hobbyist Luthiers in the Southern California area. I know most of them, honestly. I can tell you that we are a fully diverse group, in race, culture, gender, education level and emotional maturity. And the mix is pretty close to the mix of the general population of this area. Definitely not an exclusive club. We Luthiers are passionate creative people, and we're thrilled to meet and work with anyone else who shares our passion.

If you want to spotlight some particular Luthiers as examples of our diversity, that's fine. But please don't try to present us as some kind of restrictive group. Because we're not.

hey man, no hate here - definitely not. But you cannot lie that the major paradigms and what you hear and what things are often named for has a prevalence… what I wanted to exactly hear from are people like you who know these amazing people of all kinds who participate in this world and we don’t always hear about.

 

[BoesPronounBass]

Thread cleaned. Let's just celebrate a little diversity, ok?

Thanks!!! This is the point! It saying people from all walks don’t do this amazing work - just saying we don’t always hear the stories and so thanks for all the sharing!!!

 

[rogerbmiller]

Let's not forget Emily Krohn from Fodera. I don't think she is there anymore but she is very talented:

https://fodera.com/pages/southwest-masterbuilt

 

[Cutter8]

Linda Manzer is one of the greatest luthiers on the planet imho.

Definitely an astonishingly skilled and truly visionary luthier! At an A.S.I.A. (Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans) conference many years ago I was lucky enough to spend some time with Linda. I got to check out a number of her instruments, including an early example of the Pikasso harp-guitar she created for Pat Metheney (42 strings, 4 necks and 2 sound holes on a single wedge-shaped body) and some of the guitars she had started building using the wedge body geometry she developed for the Pikasso. Many well known builders were vying for her time, and I was just a young and inexperienced nobody, but she was incredibly patient and quite generous with her attention and advice. Even the biggest names in the business at the time, including people like Chris Martin IV, Jean Larrivée, Dana Bourgeois, Grit Laskin, etc., spoke of her with a degree of reverence that was impossible to miss.

 

[Joshua]

Cleaned again. Folks, let's either take a moment and celebrate diversity or let's just find a different topic. Thank you.

 

[MrSidecar]

On the double bass side of things, one of the very first who comes to mind is Sue Lipkins, legendary bow maker.

best
Sidecar

 

[James Collins]

Cool thread. Thanks everyone for sharing. I know a lot of the innovation on the playing side has come from artists of color. Nice to see some representation in the building/design side of things shared so far.

 

[Samatza]

I do admire those small, custom builders that can take your wishes and turn them into reality.

We are lucky to have such diversity available in our fold and I support them as much as I can.

We have a great deal of choice, the level of passion put into these instruments is truly remarkable.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

On the double bass side of things, one of the very first who comes to mind is Sue Lipkins, legendary bow maker.

best
Sidecar

And there's Lisa Gass, the Los Angeles Bass Works. She's world class at repairing and restoring high value Double Basses.

 

[31HZ]

Thank you for this thread.

 

[Killing Floor]

Daisy Ciravolo has done a whole lot in terms of outreach to get more women playing. Her brand is called Daisy Rock. She's gotten a handful of impressive celeb endorsements over the years.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Another top Luthier in Los Angeles is Tina Wood. She specializes in precision fretwork, by hand, not with a PLEK. She does beautiful work, charges a high rate, and has a waiting list. She's also a seriously hot rock guitarist in an AC/DC tribute band! A great person, full of energy and craftsmanship. I occasionally make parts or repair necks for her.

 

[Admiral Akbar]

Mas Hino is one of the all-time greats.

There are so many other Asian luthiers as well.

 

[Admiral Akbar]

Also in my neck of the woods, head luthier at Sadowsky is none other than the talented and affable Lisa Ellis Hahn.

 

[JamesDeGrandis]

Hi all,

First I know this can get political… please if that’s your point move along and do not post. My goal here is absolute positivity and celebrating excellence and different stories that may not be shared as often. Not to make a judgment call on anyone or any industry… feel free to do that elsewhere if you would like haha…

I was wondering if anyone knows of some good examples of diversity of representation amongst luthiers and music equipment makers. I read a fascinating article about Jerry Lawson the black engineer that rarely gets the credit he deserves for bringing video game cartridges out which blew up the industry.

I’ve been talking with more builders and whatnot recently and sort of noticed the white male trend here(some different backgrounds for sure though). Artists get focus when it comes to celebrating some representation but the behind the scenes I think is getting more appreciation these days as people think about how things work (or don’t when supply chain collapses) and making things is getting more respect. With that I wanted to ask if anyone knew of good examples outside the norm of luthiers/builders in the US here that fall outside of the white male prevalence?

Also, being black history month would be great if anyone knows some great stories to share about black luthiers or builders or makers.

Dr. Jim West - co creator of the Electret Microphone capsule... I saw him talk at the Acoustical Society Meeting before the Pandemic. Neat guy.

 

[JamesDeGrandis]

As a general note, I've been in this business a long time, and much of my work has been doing custom subcontract for other Luthiers. As a result, I have worked with, am friends with, and know of many pro and hobbyist Luthiers in the Southern California area. I know most of them, honestly. I can tell you that we are a fully diverse group, in race, culture, gender, education level and emotional maturity. And the mix is pretty close to the mix of the general population of this area. Definitely not an exclusive club. We Luthiers are passionate creative people, and we're thrilled to meet and work with anyone else who shares our passion.

If you want to spotlight some particular Luthiers as examples of our diversity, that's fine. But please don't try to present us as some kind of restrictive group. Because we're not.

+1 for diverse emotional maturity.

 

[Polk Salad]

I don't know if this would really surprise anyone but both times I toured the Fender factory in Corona, I would say that 85% of the people making your American Fender instruments were of Latino/Hispanic heritage. Also not surprising, I had a person in my tour that was really surprised (not in a "unpleasant" way) that those making American instruments weren't all caucasians, LOL. It was actually very funny.