Collection Gift Guide: Sweetly Strumming
December 1, 2004
ROBINSON GUITARS
There are many fine guitars on the market, and if you’re
willing to pay a pretty penny, you’re likely to get a pretty instrument with a pretty sound. If you
crave more than assembly-line excellence, however, Jake Robinson may have the instrument for you. Based in Michigan, the musician-turned-craftsman produces what he calls heirloom guitars–one-of-a-kind, entirely handmade instruments
as matchless as their individual players. Working from a basic blueprint of five body types, Robinson customizes each guitar to client specifications. Options include ornamental inlays, burl, and unique purfling. Form, however, always follows musical function. Robinson considers basic wood choice the most
crucial guitar-making criterion, for it is wood type that most strongly influences
the resonance and tone of an instrument.
Because he builds all his guitars himself, Robinson is able to consider the
“composition of woods as they flow as a whole.” This is one of the factors, he
says, that differentiates a one-man operation from an assembly line.
(Though the finest guitars of bigger companies may be largely handmade, they
often pass through the hands of 50 to 60 different workers before they are
complete.)
In going solo, Robinson has turned a labor of love into an art. Because of his
yen for perfection, Robinson produces only 15 instruments a year. They range
from $5,000 to $20,000, depending on the type of wood used; most precious is
Brazilian rosewood, renowned throughout the musical world for effecting what
Robinson terms “aural magic.” Whether a client selects koa, mahogany, or any
grade of fine rosewood, the wood is air- rather than kiln-dried, resulting in a
more stable instrument. Robinson also uses a specialized (read: secret)
technique to sculpt the neck of the guitar, yielding uniform string tension,
consistently low action, no buzz, and less shifting of the instrument through
climatic change. All of this means that a Robinson guitar is more playable than
its mass-produced counterparts.
Robinson Guitars
269.345.7491
www.robinsonguitars.com
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