The Guitarmaker

The Guitarmaker

Somewhere along my path I met an amazing guitar maker. We hit it off. As a guitar player, I deeply appreciated his skills. He was passionate about his craft from the woods he chose to the glue and varnishes he selected. He was a perfectionist and it showed in every joint, planed surface, and abalone inlay.

And he appreciated my work as a painter, wanting me to eventually do a painting of him at work on an instrument. We met and he wanted the location to be someplace more dramatic than his apartment. A building with lots of wood and fine furnishings. I took a few shots of him for reference and left, with him telling me that he would get back with me on a location and time.

In the meantime, I did this portrait study of him at work rubbing a layer of his homemade compound onto a guitar he had in progress. And I waited and waited. . . and waited.

One day I asked a musical friend if he’d heard anything about our mutual acquaintance, the guitarmaker. He had. He told me that the guitar I had seen him making was for a high-profile client whom the maker thought would propel his career into the limelight.

The guitarmaker had built that guitar in my painting for him to look over. Evidently, the guitar was rejected and the friend got a sad look on his face and told me that in a fit of rage the guitarmaker went back to the studio and smashed the guitar into a guzzillion pieces.

Artists can be fragile. He was fragile to the point of a burst of insanity. That guitar was gorgeous. The wood beautiful. The design flawless. But the rejection annihilated his heart.

I’ve heard since that he works some kind of mundane job. But I never heard whether or not he still builds guitars.

Original ptg: 12” x 9”
acrylic on acid-free board

destroyed in flood

Available for sale as

Greeting Cards, Matted Prints and Framed Prints