Print
Email
ShareSACRAMENTO, Calif. — Classical guitar builder Waylin Carpenter gets a telltale glint in his eye when he talks about guitars.
The instrument looms large in the life of this 52-year-old rock ‘n’ roll guitarist turned self-taught classical guitar builder, or luthier.
Often, a rock guitarist evolves into a builder of custom electric guitars. And the fact that Carpenter owns 12 electric guitars, half of them Fender Stratocasters, suggests that route. His many years playing in rock bands suggests the same.
But despite his ability to tool around with electric guitars, Carpenter chose the difficult and solitary world of classical guitar building.
“In the late 1990s, I bought a couple of handmade guitars,” he said. He also bought books on guitar making, and the requisite box of luthier’s tools, which includes everything from calipers to chisels to gauges.
“I went at it by reading the books and reinventing the wheel,” he said.
But Carpenter didn’t fully commit to becoming a luthier until a friend took him to a workshop by luthier Michael Lewis.
“Michael is highly respected and well known for his mandolins and arch-top guitars. I was very impressed with his work and thought ‘What a great, purposeful way to make a living.’ “
A year later, Carpenter was building his first classical guitar. It took six months.
“It turned out to be one of those happy accidents,” he said. “It was a pretty good-sounding guitar.”
Carpenter just finished his ninth instrument — a seven-string guitar commissioned by guitarist Matthew Grasso, a classical music and Indian music specialist. Carpenter is a former classical guitar student of Grasso’s.
Unlike most classical guitarists, Grasso prefers to commission one-of-a-kind instruments, like the 25-string raga classical guitar he ordered three years ago from luthier Scott Richter. When Carpenter built his first instrument for Grasso — a teaching guitar — an intense dialogue between guitar maker and guitarist began.
“I only work with people that have a relaxed and open mind,” said Grasso. “When Waylin built this teaching guitar, he kept coming back and asking if the improvements he’d made sounded better.”
The seven-string guitar for Grasso costs $3,900. It’s known in the guitar world as an “extended” seven-string guitar because its neck juts out toward the tuning pegs, adding two extra frets for the bottom B seventh string. The standard six-string guitar’s lowest string is an E string. The seventh string allows a wider range and is crucial in making it possible to play transcriptions of orchestral works, a Grasso specialty.
Sacramento classical guitarist Matt Foley owns one of Carpenter’s seven-string guitars and is a fan of his work. Foley says the guitar has been a boon to his performance of works by Bach and Tarrega.
“That guitar is working out really well,” said Foley. “It has this really nice projection to it, and it can really fill up a room quite nicely, especially the bass.”
It takes Carpenter roughly 150 hours to build a seven-string guitar. The most difficult part of the process is bending and gluing the side and back panels. And much care is needed when deciding on the kinds of wood to use for the front sound board, a veritable speaker. Carpenter’s first guitars were built with lighter woods for the back and a heavier wood for the sound board.
“This was exactly the opposite of what I needed to do,” said Carpenter. “The guitars were not projecting.”
In 2005 Carpenter showed his guitars to master luthier Gregory Byers. It was an eye-opening experience.
“He picked up my instrument and started humming into it to see what the frequencies were,” Carpenter said. “I learned what was getting in the way of my guitars.”
After that, Carpenter began using lighter wood, such as Italian spruce, for the sound board.
Being a luthier can be a trial-and-error process that takes a large amount of patience, said luthier Lewis.
“I met Carpenter several years ago when he was starting out making classical guitars,” said Lewis. “And as a luthier he is a perfectionist.”
Carpenter, formerly of the 1980s band Steel Breeze, never completely gave up his rock ‘n’ roll roots and is now in the Atomic Kings. Along the way, Carpenter also started a local decal company, which he runs aided by his father and son.
Although the decal endeavor pays the bills, it is the guitar building that sates his soul.
“I’m not worried about stuffing as much money as I can in the bank,” he said. “For me, building guitars is a lifestyle choice.”
