Passion for music and art

© 2014 by Diane Weidenbenner

I learned how to play guitar on a whim. My parents planned to send me to a private school for junior high, because of desegregation and forced busing in Colorado in the 70s. Even though I lived five minutes away from a junior high school, busing would send me 45 minutes away, to attend a school in a predominantly Hispanic and black neighborhood.

When I was asked to sign up for my public school classes, I added Beginning Guitar to my list, along with Home Economics and Spanish. Why not? I’d always wanted to play guitar but I’d never had the opportunity. I thought, “It won’t hurt to sign up for guitar class, since I’m probably not going to that school anyway. What was the harm?”

At the last minute, I decided that I didn’t want to attend private school. All my friends were going to Horace Mann and I wanted to go, too. As children, we didn’t have the instilled fear of meeting people of different cultures. The blessing behind all of this was that I learned to play guitar. I also learned how to make pork green chili and tamales in my Home Ec class, which I thoroughly enjoyed.Turns out busing wasn’t a bad thing after all. I made great friends in the process.

Beautiful wood is matched so each guitar has its own beauty and style. © 2014 by Diane Weidenbenner

I still dabble with playing guitar and enjoy it personally, but I’m rusty so public performances are out. I’ve had renewed interest in this pastime, since my brother, sister-in-law and I visited C.F. Martin & Co. in Nazareth, Pa., this past June. We went through the tour, which was more interesting than I first imagined.

The first part highlighted the custom shop where we got a glimpse of how every part of the guitar was hand-made to exact specifications. These guitars begin at about $5,000 each (the D-28 Louvin Brothers model goes for $4,666). There’s a beautiful Guatemalan Rosewood model (the CS-GP-14) for $8,499 or the darker Mahogany SS-OM42-14 at $11,999 list price, if you are so inclined.

Marianna carefully adds the frets onto the neck by hand. © 2014 by Diane Weidenbenner

The tour then progressed to the mass-market area. This process still included some hand-detailing but there was also much done by machine.

The Frets, Fingerboard Position dots on the neck and mother-of-pearl accents or striping on the Rosette are hand-applied, and required the patience of a saint.

Braces and centerstrip. There are more supports on the backside of the guitar. © 2014 by Diane Weidenbenner

It’s amazing to see the many types of beautiful wood from which they cut out the fronts and backs. Watching the manufacturing process was a wonderful reminder of the incredible detail that goes into making each instrument’s sound (from the braces and centerstrip that are included inside each guitar).

Heat is used to shape the sides of the guitar. © 2014 by Diane Weidenbenner

At one point in the manufacturing process, the wood is heated and shaped into the beautiful lines that make up the sides of the guitar. One wrong move and the entire piece of wood is ruined. Talk about a stressful job!

Did you know that you can buy a guitar named after your favorite rockers: Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Johnny Cash or Clarence White? There’s even a custom model that has the Last Supper artfully depicted on the pickguard.

A custom model has the Last Supper artfully depicted on the pickguard. (How cool would it be to play in a church choir with this baby?) © 2014 by Diane Weidenbenner

And, there’s even an App for that! You can download to your wireless device the Martin Guitar App that assists you in tuning, training your ear, giving instructions on changing strings and pro tips.

When we were there, we met a young gentleman who was next in line to lead the C.F. Martin Company. I can’t remember what type of degree he had but it was in a science-y discipline – it didn’t seem like a natural next step for him.

However, he was very personable, talked with us in the shop and came out into the waiting room. It does truly remind you what a family-run business is like – he had the passion for the business in his DNA.

My current guitar is a base model Martin. It’s got a matte finish and I recently had new strings put on it when I moved to Terre Haute (I’ve lived here nine years and counting). Although my guitar is not expensive nor does it boast the Eric Clapton brand, I have a new appreciation for what goes into crafting a beautiful instrument that creates such a wonderful sound.