Excellent (long) read - interview with RIchard Stanley

[runtfan]

Hi all,

I came across this interview by accident, and found it to be an amazing read.  I am still pretty new to luthiery, so maybe some of his insights will be old news to you.  But i still think it's worth looking at.

http://www.dinosaurrockguitar.com/new/node/640

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I read most of it.  Pretty good read.  He's either right or really into himself about his work. 

 

[dbw]

I stopped reading after the faint praise in the intro.  "He takes forever to do a setup, but when it comes back, it's better than when you brought it to him!"  ...okay.

 

[tfarny]

He sounds like a real pro and what he says makes sense to me. But if you are going to make this your full time trade, you should have that kind of knowledge no matter what.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

The multi-scale Gibson fretboards were an eye-opener, followed by the statement that rarely has he seen a "unified scale."  His nut setup made sense.  He spaces them not from center of the string from string to string, but even spaces between strings.  In-other-words, the middle two string are on the treble side of center because the bass strings are bigger.  This makes each nut setup dependent on string gauge.  More fodder for the tonehounds is that bridge design and material affects tone more than body and neck woods.  Nut material has no effect if fretting notes, which makes sense. 

 

[dbw]

I went back and skimmed most of it... I actually like this guy.  I was stunned to see how far off all those fretboards were off from nice 12th root of 2 intervals.  I derived that constant on my own when I was like 17... I can't believe professional builders would get it consistently wrong.  Still, a lot of that can be corrected with clever fretwork.  Will read the rest later...

 

[runtfan]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

DBW - I like this guy, too.  I'm glad you took the time to go back and skim it.

Super Turbo - the eye-openers for me were pretty much the same as yours, especially the part about tone and bridges.  I also liked what he said about pickups and pickup winding.  I really liked the "free association" at the end of the interview.

Did anyone catch the part where he talks about compound radius?  I thought the tool he made for making the fretboard "true and fair" was pretty cool, although I doubt I have the skill to duplicate it.

As I said before - I am only beginning to understand the world that is luthiery.  Every thing I learn shows me how much more I have to learn.  Of course, I'm not quitting my day job any time soon, and I have little kids, so free time is sparse.  But I love listening to pros like this guy and Dan Erlewine talk about the trade.  I have a few of Dan's setup videos, and I watch them over and over again during my lunch.  Once I finish my current project, I am going to try an Erlewine-inspired setup on my Mexican Strat...

 

[dbw]

By the way, a pointless plug... the DRG site has lots of good articles and interviews, and the forum is fun too.  Just don't mention any music made before 1975 or after 1990... trust me.  The guys on the forum are dinosaurs from the 80s and proud of it. 

 

[kboman]

A very interesting read, thanks for that link.