Welcome to the official blogger of master luthier Joseph Vallis.
Many have asked me what I would do if I couldn't make guitars, I often smile and look up from my pipe and say, "Exactly what I was doing when I wasn't making a living building guitars, I would build guitars!". As funny as that may sound it is true, when I was broke and living in a one bedroom apartment I was scrounging every penny I could get to buy wood and equipment and I was building guitars. It is not that I can't do anything else, it is that I CAN'T do anything else.. The first time I laid my hands on an old arch-top soundboard and started fiddling with the braces on my grandpas old harmony, I knew right there without a doubt I wanted to build guitars for the rest of my life.
The combination of art, woodworking, technical skill, and music all combined into the perfect synthesis of lutherie with the added benefit of ever new discoveries wrapped in the organic nature of wood and steel. That is the best way I can describe what we do as guitar makers and I for one am excited every single day that I walk into my shop. In the interest of full disclosure I love what I do so much that I don't think I have worked a single day since I began my journey as a stringed instrument maker. It is not that some of the processes in building a guitar are not a lot of work especially when you consider the amount of hand work that is put into the craft, but it is the fact that every process for me is therapy for my soul.
The internet has brought an entire community of guitar makers, players, collectors and aficionados together in one place where we can help each other find the perfect guitars for each persons needs. As in the days when swords were being made for soldiers on the battlefields, the swords surpass any copies we make today because of the constant feedback of people bending breaking and abusing swords constantly every single day, so it is today with so many wonderful players out there giving constant feedback and abusing and using guitars every day in real world hard situations which for us as makers is beyond priceless. This is why "copies" of old guitars will never BE those old guitars, but we should never discount the modern guitar as an instrument it is truly in its golden era and being refined daily.
As the ability of players increases I suspect that guitars will evolve to suit the needs of each new style and ability that comes along and I for one am excited to see what happens next. I will most likely be around ranting about something or another as often as I can (when I am not in my shop, which I usually am!), so stick around and visit back often.
Joseph Vallis Luthier, Studio de Vallis
Vallis Custom Guitars
Follow Along with my latest build the Colonial Grand Symphony
Or the new Maori themed Concert Ukulele here
http://maoriconcertukulele.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-maori-themed-concert-ukulele.html
www.vallisguitars.com
sales@vallisguitars.com
