Why did I start Ercse Guitar and Luthiery?

I started EG&L because I found the acoustic guitar to be a fascinating instrument. In some respects a work of art all on their own. Looking at what some of the accomplished luthiers have been creating blew my mind. The imaginative use of tone woods to build absolutely gorgeous playable works of art opened my eyes to the possibilities of what I could accomplish if I wanted to take on another creative bent.

In a former life I worked as a metal sculptor, designing and building metal sculptures. I had given that up many years earlier and was looking for another outlet for my creative expression. My love of guitars and my need to create came together with the intent of creating and selling playable art. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I still needed to keep my day job to pay the bills.

As I continued to play, I found myself moving to electric guitars as well as my acoustics. I began tinkering with my guitars, finding any information I could to help make them play better.  I found an accomplished repair technician who provided me with loads of information and became an inspiration for repair and setting up guitars. His name is Dan Erlewine and he is a guitar repair god. His imagination and innovation are legendary. You can find him here http://www.danerlewine.com and here at Stewart MacDonald http://www.stewmac.com/newsletter.html.

I got very good at setting up my guitars so that I put very little effort into playing them. My friends and band mates asked how I could play with the strings so low. I said it was economy of effort. The less hard I press on the strings, the longer I can play without my fingers getting sore.

After a while they began to ask me to set up their guitars. One thing led to another and I got right into the guts and learned everything I could about what makes an electric an electric. I learned everything I could about hardware, pickups, electronics and what was required to get the tone that each guitar was signature for. This was also the time that I realized that I wanted to start making my own electrics…….  And EG&L was born.