This month GT interviews Luthier James Peters. Read about how he builds these amazing guitars and listen to some samples of his work. Keep your chisels sharp and your hands out of the way. -james peters Listen to the Oak/Spruce 000 guitar Read full interview    |    View James' GT Shop

My name is James Peters. I live in Springfield, Tennessee. I'm 49 years old, married to my best friend Laura. I have three children – one grown, one in college and one at home. I've been playing guitar for about forty years. I also play mandolin and upright bass.

I'm expecting my first grandchild in October.

The first instrument that I ever built was a dreadnaught guitar made with black walnut back & sides, a sitka spruce top, ebony fingerboard and bridge with cherry binding. I was pleased as punch with how it turned out.

I've done my own repairs and repairs for friends for years and never really thought about actually building a guitar, but one day while doing a rather extensive repair ( a 1972 Martin D-28) for a friend, it hit me that it would almost be easier to build him a new guitar than to repair this one. I finished his guitar and it turned out great. That’s when I decided to get geared up and start building.

I started reading everything I could on shop setup, tools, mold making, wood properties and finishing techniques. I had some tools already but added to my collection of chisels and clamps. I built a 16” thickness sander and bought myself a bandsaw and a drillpress. I decided that if I were going to do this, I was going to do all of it. I designed my own headstock shape, my own bridge design, built a variation of a Fox styled side bender and even slotted my own fingerboard. The only parts of that guitar that I did not make, were the tuners, the frets themselves, the strings, the bridgepins and tailpin.  Four months later – a guitar was born.

Listen to the Walnut Spruce dreadnaught

I get my inspiration from practically everything. Music, musicians, art, fine furniture, nature, cities, country – inspiration is everywhere and in everything – we just have to be open to all the possibilities. The thought of taking a few pieces of wood that were once part of a living tree and working them into an instrument that once again is living and breathing through the hands of a musician, is really pretty cool. It’s the ultimate in recycling, in my opinion. Getting up in the morning with the goal of getting just a little bit closer to the completion of another instrument is also a big inspiration to me.

All of them. Rosewood, mahogany, walnut, koa, oak, cherry, maple, osage, etc.

I've been trying to use more locally grown woods lately – such as oak, cherry and maple. I’ve also been using old seasoned woods from old pianos for the soundboards and bracing. I built a little 000-12 fret with oak back and sides.

The top and bracing were pieces made from parts of a 70 year old baby grand piano. 60 plus years of music has already been vibrating through this wood.

I can’t help but think that this helps in the overall sound and seasoned tone of the guitar. Oak is not really a very pretty wood compared to say rosewood or mahogany, but I think it has a place. The sound of oak is sort of dry and woody.

The projection is really good. I think that, as more of the common guitar woods become more expensive and harder to get, that woods such as walnut, oak and cherry will become more popular and will be accepted by the guitar buying audience as viable alternatives.

Listen to the Oak/Spruce 000 guitar

My only plans are to keep building and perfecting my craft. If that is the focus, the rest will take care of itself.

Remember that handmade instruments are one of a kind. A lot of handmade instruments are built one at a time by one person paying attention to every detail of how the instrument is constructed and how all the pieces fit together to better the response, tone, volume, feel and playability. If you’re looking for visual perfection you may want to check out one of the mass manufacturers, were machines carve out necks at a rate of 300 a day so that each one feels and looks exactly the same. I firmly believe that if you blindfolded a group of musicians and gave each one a chance to play any of the top 3 manufactured guitars along with a similar handmade guitar, the handmade guitar would win 9 out of 10.

Would you prefer the grocery store deli’s mass-produced, sugar ridden, boxed apple pie or grandma’s?
It’s an easy choice.

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