Guitars and sonic soup

Daisy Gamechats to luthier Gary Leddington about the joys of building a guitar...

The main two types of wood that people build guitars from are Rosewood and Mahogany. Mahogany tends to be sweet, but maybe a bit trebly, and Rosewood tends to be a little darker...”

Listening to guitar ‘luthier’ (guitar maker) Gary Leddington talk about his materials is a rather wonderful thing; a panel of Rosewood here, a little Mahogany there –Leddington likes to strike the right balance.

I’m in the Leddington Guitar workshop –a space packed with parts, tools, and the heady scent of lacquered instruments –chatting with owner Gary about tree species, and the different sound the wood from each produces.

“This is European Spruce, so I would expect this to be a little bit more tender – a little sweeter – than some woods”, he continues, pointing to the top portion of an instrument perched on the studio counter. After European Spruce, Gary lingers on Sitka (“the sound tends to be a lot more pronounced”), before pondering the pros of a Spruce –Rosewood combo: “It’s got that sort of lower, darker sound, maybe a little more complex, but in a more subtle way…”. One could go on, I’m told, but with hundreds of woods at a luthier’s disposal, it can be a little tricky knowing where to start.

Gary’s interest in guitar-making started way-back-when; he recalls watching a secondary school classmate knock up a rudimentary version of the instrument and wanting, even then, to give building a go himself. But it wasn’t until a career oppurtunity took him across the channel to Belgium, where Gary took night classes in stringed

The top of the guitar contributes to around 90% of the instrument’s sound. The species, the thickness of the top, and the way the support braces are carved have the most impact on the tonal qualities. Most guitars have a spruce top of some variety, but cedar and mahogany are also used from time to time.

The back and side woods have less of an impact than most people think, but they do ‘colour’ the sound. You can think of a guitar like a sonic soup: the top is the base ingredient, and the back and sides are the spices and seasoning. Here Gary highlights some of the options.

European Spruce is a very good all-round top wood that has been used for centuries by the classical instrument builders of Italy, Spain and Germany for violins, cellos and guitars. It has a clear and vibrant sound with complex, honeyed overtones.

Sitka Spruce is one of the most commonly used top woods. It’s perhaps not as nuanced as other top woods in that it has a kind of sonic ‘ceiling’; but it's powerful, punchy and present.

instrument building at the Centre for Musical Instrument Building in Puurs, that interest became practice.

There’s a strong, active tradition of luthiery in Belgium, with several schools across the country dedicated to educating the next generation of makers. Having only been back in the UK for several months, Gary is yet to discover a similar proliferation of the craft in England, although the musician-turned-maker isn’t in the least concerned about the future of luthiery: “I definitely don’t think that luthiery is a dying thing. Especially in recent years, when there’s been a turn towards craft, and making, and that sort of authenticity…I’m not worried about it at all – I think it’s an alive and vibrant thing.”

That being said, guitar makers aren’t entirely immune to the threats of an assembly line, because their instrument is always, to a certain extent, ‘handmade’ (yes, a machine is able to knock up parts A and B, but a Real Life Person is needed to join the two together). Because of this, larger manufacturers, such as Martin, describe their instruments as handmade. But a guitar made entirely by hand is a different beast –

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Adirondack Spruce has a lively and yet robust sound that means it can be delicately fingerpicked or energetically strummed and it will remain complex and nuanced in all situations.

Rosewood tends to be complex and dark with a good low and high frequencies, with perhaps a more elaborate sound than mahogany as it operates over a wider swathe of the sonic spectrum.

Mahogany mostly occupies the mid-range frequencies and has very woody, dry and yet sweet characteristics. In a roaring bluegrass jam, a mahogany guitar will punch though the banjo cacophony.

Maple is by nature a harder wood and that is reflected in its tonal characteristics. It sits in the higher frequencies and therefore is brighter and very lively and responsive. It also has fantastic sustain, which means the length that the note achieves as Gary’s perfectly demonstrate. Coming from a contemporary art background (he studied Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University), Gary’s aesthetic tastes tend to be, in his words, a little “strange and abstract” when compared to those of other guitar makers who often have a more traditional training in woodwork or carpentry.

The amount of time it takes Gary to build each ‘abstract’ instrument differs, but if there are no hiccups along the way then it’s around three to four weeks to put the guitar itself together and a further month to allow for the applied lacquer to cure.

That’s a fairly hefty timeline, I note; strange as it may sound, I’m curious as to whether Gary forges any kind of emotional connection with his instruments? They have long enough to get to know one another, after all.

“You get really attached to the thing – when its finished, it’s difficult to let it go”, Gary nods with a smile, telling me that things get stranger still when an instrument stays close to home: “Sometimes they come back – maybe they need a touch up, or a friend owns one, so you see it occasionally – and there’s a weird detachment that happens. It’s as if it has become its own thing, to the point where I don’t even believe that I made it anymore. It’s really strange: it becomes this complete thing that has its own life –or its own existence, or something...”

This isn’t the first time Gary has referred to his instruments as though they are, at some level, autonomous –or, at the very least, not entirely within their maker’s control: “Every guitar does sound a little bit different. Even if the same maker makes the same guitar with the same woods and the same body shape, it will probably sound a little bit different. Just because of the nature of – well, nature really; trees grow differently!”

Gary is a champion of all things unique, with his favourite projects being those of the sentimental variety. He gives us a sneak peak at his current make which, in homage to its commissioner’s passion for Irish music, features an emerald green rosette. Another instrument of which Gary is particuarly fond uses a Morgan silver dollar belonging to the player’s grandfather as inlay.

When asked how he sees his career progressing, Gary’s answer is a humble one: “I would just like to continue making, and make a living from making. To me, that sounds like success. I don’t have any grand designs on world domination. It’s really just to be able to make the things that I love, and make things that are beautiful.”

It sounds like a good enough plan to me. n