I spent the day documenting the craftsmanship of Colorado luthier James Einolf in his basement workshop. An astounding amount of very fine, detailed woodworking is required to handcraft a guitar. After hundreds of hours of labor, it’s astonishing that all the pieces eventually come together into a musical instrument.
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| Here’s the ‘subject’ and the ambient light I had to work with. Let’s just say there’s lots of stuff around, and it’s bathed in beautiful greenish light! |
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| Woodworking tools of the trade (some of which are themselves works of art), being used to scallop the internal bracing. |
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| Preparing to glue the kerfing to the internal side of the flat top. |
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| 5x glasses used to prepare and install the frets onto the fingerboard. |
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| Ebony, Indian Rosewood and Cocobolo fingerboards await mating to neck. |
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| Abundant filing is involved with shaping the neck. |
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| James with a 1926 Gibson L-0 on the left, and Einolf L-0 Serial #51 on the right. |
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| The workshop foreman, Felix, apparently thinks he’s also capable of picking a guitar! |
3 Comments
Nice, thanks Jeff. I really like that 2nd shot. The fingerboard shot would be great also if it were a bit lighter.
Hey thanks Charles, it means a lot coming from such an accomplished guitar photographer. You're right about the fingerboards, I edited it as suggested. Thanks!
Your photography does justice to his luthiery: they're both beautifully done. I'm not actually anonymous, I'm just not into registering at websites.
B. Thomas