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Last week Yorkville Sound (the
Canadian distributors of Gibson) flew a few eastern Canadian dealers out
to Bozeman Montana for a tour of Gibson's acoustic guitar building shop.
We were hosted by none other than master luthier Ren Ferguson and the director
of operations, Robi Johns. What a time we had!!!
Apart from the incredible natural beauty of the region (mountains, bison,
elk, white water, gorgeous!) we just had a blast touring the shop.
The shop is in a very unpretentious building
and is not quite what I had expected. I think I had envisioned a
monstrous, impersonal assembly line spitting out untold number of 'units'
but instead found a much smaller workshop that still does a surprising
amount of handwork! There are even some operations that still employ
hide glue because it transmits vibrations better than carpenter's glue!
Gibson guitars have had a checkered history
recently, but after this tour I am convinced that Ren and Robi are
committed to producing a consistently fine product that is worthy of the
Gibson name.
Much of Ren Ferguson's time
is spent finding sources of premium Sitka, maple, rosewood,
ebony and tropical mahogany. Gibson Montana fabricated their
own wood drying kiln and has sufficient stocks to further air dry their
tonewoods. The state of Montana has a very dry climate (it
was around 15% RH outside when I was there) so the shop is climate controlled
by mist sprayers to get the inside relative humidity up to the required
40%.
It was interesting to see this rack
of 'outside molds' in all of the historic Gibson shapes. This one rack
holds all of the molds that the J-200, J-45/50/AJ, Dove/Hummingbird,
J-185/180/Everly Bros guitars are all made in!!!
Gibson uses similar heat presses to
the other major manufacturers. They are all variations on the same
theme; a heated male and female shape that pneumatically presses
moistened sides to the correct shape.
Here's a rack of partially completed
guitars. The instruments in the foreground are "in the white"
while the back rack holds guitars whose finish is still "flashing off".
During this stage it is critical that the wood is not handled by anyone
not actually working on the instruments to reduce the risk of finish contamination
from natural body oils.
I just had to take a shot of this
ancient dovetail cutter. It is the last machine still in use by Gibson
from the old Kalamazoo plant. What a piece of history!!!
Most manufacturers as well as a lot of private
luthiers are using "vacuum presses" to glue their struts on with.
The struts have glue applied to them and are positioned by hand before
a clear plastic lid is pulled down and all of the air sucked out,
creating even downward clamping pressure. Ingenious!
It was great to see custom inlay work
being done in the "old world" style, with hand gravers on exotic
shells!!! After "cutting & sinking" the inlay, the craftsman
pencils on the detail lines and essentially scratches the surface of the
pearl with a graver. The 'scratch' is then filled with an engraving
crayon, creating a black line. Sounds easy? Right!
Here's a guitar being wet sanded near
the end of the finishing process. Gibson Montana still uses old fashioned
nitro lacquer even though ultra-violet cured polyester is quicker.
They feel they can get a thinner finish that won't inhibit the mode of
vibration but still provide the required protection! |
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