How Do You Find a Luthier?

By their very nature, these folks are recluses. They enjoy working in their shop and living in that reality. Rarely do they advertise. Sometimes they’ll come up for air or poke their head out to be fed, but you have to be vigilant in order to catch them. Of course, the internet has made it a lot easier to find anyone or anything at any time or anyplace, but in my opinion, the best place to meet a luthier is at a luthier’s show. I met Dale at one of the most prestigious shows, “The Woodstock Invitational Luthier’s Showcase” held annually in Woodstock, New York. I had perused the program in advance and my jaw dropped when I saw his town listed as West Hartford, Connecticut. “What? A top-notch luthier in my hometown and I’ve never heard of him?” I had a great time at the show getting to know him and his wife Erin. And gradually, I discovered there were a lot of other folks out there who thought his guitars were some of the best available. On the day that Foxy’s mahogany tabletop landed at my door, I immediately knew who to call.

Interviews with Dale

A couple of good videos: Above is from WFSB - Hartford, CT (February 2020) and below, Dale talks about his guitars, their history and their character with "The North American Guitar."

Fairbanks Guitars - WFSB

Talking Guitar - Interview with luthier Dale Fairbanks - The North American Guitar

Vintage meets modern in the exquisite work of Dale Fairbanks http://thenorthamericanguitar.com/fairbanks/

It was a dining room table leaf, found on garbage day...

Foxy was awfully proud of his find, remarking, "This wood has to be a hundred years old. It would make a great guitar." Here, Adam Buchwald (Circle Strings, Burlington, VT) has laid out the cuts he intends to make on the slab.

Comment from Dale...

"Nice, nice, stuff! It was hard to get a set around the splits, screw holes and warping, but we did it."

Two sides and a back

Sometimes, an old technique is superior

A classic technique for applying tension while gluing wood is to apply pressure using a rope. In this case, clamps would prove too bulky, and might even crush the wood. Rope provides a calibrated pressure and adapts to the curves of the thin back’s wood.

Old vs. new Wood

Foxy's wood, cut from the table leaf, is on the left. Some new mahogany is on the right.

Bending Wood

Woodworkers have been bending wood for centuries. Add heat, a little moisture, and a ton of patience. Some luthiers still do their bending freehand!

A Bending Machine

Comment from Dale...

Old wood can often snap or crack unexpectedly. Fortunately, this bend went perfectly.

It's Not Easy to Build a Soundbox

There are a ton of steps involved. The bracing has to resist the pull of the strings and yet not be so heavy that it mutes the guitar's volume.

The Mold

For consistency of shape, most modern guitars are fabricated in a mold. A guitar can be made without one, but there will be variations in shape.

Serial # 0620229

0620 - the build began in June of 2020 229 - Dale's 229th guitar

X Brace

This is the main strut in most modern steel guitars. It keeps the strings from ripping apart the top. The system was developed by C.F. Martin at the dawn of the steel string era. It not only counteracts the string tension that wants to pull the top up and away, but it also serves to be a big influence on the sound of the top.

It's all about balance

Each element in the soundbox: the braces, the thickness of the plates, the dimensions, all affect the sound in one way or another.

A defining feature in any guitar is the label

It's one of the first places anyone looks when evaluating a guitar. The label is essentially the artist's signature on his work.

And sometimes, a guitar has an Easter egg inside

that can't be seen without a mirror and strong light. Appropriate for a dentist!

Here, Dale is separating the edges of the mold.

Not as simple as you may think

The splotches on the top are excess glue which needs to be carefully removed. Spruce is a very soft wood. This step takes a lot of tlc.

Now that the box is glued up, the edges need to be routed off and a channel created for binding and purfling. These two elements are not just for appearance, they actually support the front and back face of the guitar and act like the rim of a drumhead.

The Soundbox is sanded and ready for binding and purfling.

Fret Marker Design

This 1927 Gibson Nick Lucas served as the inspiration for the fret markers

A CNC machine is one of the 'stars' of modern luthiery

Carving a neck by hand, however romantic, is a time consuming process. What harm is there in using a machine? Plus, the shape is reproducible.

Almost done in sanding

Inlay in Madagascar Rosewood

Fretboard inlay placed in Madagascar rosewood

Frets, binding and inlay in place

"This dovetail cutting jig has changed my life. Perfectly centered and angled for the right string height right off the bat." -Dale Fairbanks

Dale’s new dovetail jig

From Luthier Tool Company

Dovetail joint

Traditionally, acoustic guitar necks sit in a dovetail recess. Structurally, this is one of the most important parts of the guitar. It has to provide a consistent contact between the neck and the body for decades. And then, it needs to be accessible in case repairs are needed.

Dovetail neck joint

The headstock of a guitar can be a functional paddle, or it can make a statement. There's no doubt in my mind that this headstock is the latter. The 'fox' logo was adapted from a favorite piece of computer software from the 1980's. It screams 'FOX'!

Rickard "Banjo" Tuners adapted for Guitar

The Rickard 'banjo' tuners lend a unique look to the guitar. They take the guitar into an earlier era, before gear-based tuners, somewhere around the turn of the Twentieth Century. Gibson and Martin actually did use banjo tuners on some models from the turn of the century to about 1930, but they were difficult to keep in tune. In the 1930s, the ubiquitous geared tuners took over.

We did some mock-ups

In these photos, Dale put everything together loosely so that we could envision and discuss some final touches

Pore filling

"Pore filling and taping off. The slog stage." - Dale Fairbanks

"Got the first sealer coat on the mahogany. They don’t grow trees like this anymore. No color." - Dale Fairbanks

The Famous Fairbanks Burst Finish

The wood has such dimension!

When the original photos were enlarged, my visual senses just wanted to 'fall' into it. This 100 year old mahogany is full of depth and color.

Boxing Day 2021

To begin, I am in love with this guitar. It’s my first commission. The story behind its origins, its gradually developed appearance, and its long gestation period, created an instrument that surpassed expectations. It was a journey for both myself and its maker, Dale Fairbanks. Dale delivered the “Fox” on December 26th. We stayed outside because of our fears of infection. I worried about opening the case and cracking the nitro finish – Dale was not worried. In the fading afternoon sunlight of winter on a 45 degree day, I took my first strum on the guitar. It was magic. The guitar vibrated. The guitar was light in weight and the neck and fingerboard felt just right. I’ve played and auditioned hundreds of guitars over the years and out of those, only a few have made me smile the minute I picked them up. One, in particular, was John Thomas’ 1943 Banner SJ that went to Europe and back during WWII. I asked Dale to keep this guitar in mind when building mine. JT’s guitar is a friendly one. At any event, he’s usually handing it around, encouraging others to ‘take a spin’. This guitar feels like his: It feels good and it wants to be played. Having attended several Woodstock Luthier’s Showcase events, a custom guitar always sounded like a neat idea, but unachievable. But once the slab of mahogany landed in my hands, it became an obsession. The last year and a half at times felt like an interminable wait, but it also made me keep my perspective on what I would have to call an ‘extreme first world problem’ (boo hoo, my custom guitar is delayed ) Getting the guitar hand-delivered at Christmas and coincidentally capping off a monumental year in my life, was as good as it gets. And for you who are technically minded... The Design: The guitar is based on Dale’s F-35 body. The mahogany for the back and sides was provided by me - its origin is detailed at the beginning of the thread. When we started the build, I had a few thoughts on design, which we both kept changing throughout the process. You see the result: a handsome looking guitar. The fretboard is based on a guitar featured in ‘Fretboard Journal’ a few years back, a 1927 Gibson Nick Lucas. By necessity (I have a nickel allergy), the frets are Jescar EVO alloy. The Rickard banjo style tuners were Dale’s idea. (BTW, they work very well!) I gave him the artwork for the ‘Fox’ logo and he incorporated it into the headstock. The stickiest part of the design was the armrest (this may be the first and last armrest that Mr. Fairbanks places). He obsessed over some of the design issues and this delayed the project by several months. I knew what he was going through. Sometimes you have to put a problem aside for a little bit and tackle it later on. You can see the result – it was tied into the rest of the design with an ivoroid overlay. Then, during the finishing, Dale used a toner on all of these bright white pieces of plastic to get them to a similar color value. And the toner also tied in the gold color of the tuners and the frets. The end result works like a painting where you’ve worked primarily in one area of the color palette and added highlights where needed. The Set-up and Tone: A custom guitar generally goes several steps beyond a factory-made guitar. This one is no exception. The action is perfect up and down the neck. It takes almost the same amount of pressure at each fret and on each string to properly sound a note. It’s light and balanced. When I strum a chord, I can hear the individual notes and hear them meld with each other before the sound decays. And when I pluck the strings, each string sounds bell-like. The intonation is spot on. The guitar has an awesome thump to the bass. Interestingly, it was delivered to me tuned down a half step. When tuned to standard pitch, it lost some of that brilliance. So, I am happily playing it tuned down and using a capo as needed. I suspect that I'll be playing this guitar for many years to come. Rick Liftig - December 28, 2021

V.I.P. Sneak Peek

Leo Kotke (left) and Mike Gordon (Phish) give the Fairbanks Guitars a try… the ‘Fox’ is on the right!

Love at First Strum! ❤️

The most expensive cocktail coaster that you will ever buy…