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FEATURED MEMBER Featured Builder FEATURED BUILDER: The Butcher
FEATURED MEMBER Featured Builder FEATURED BUILDER: The Butcher | FEATURED BUILDER: The Butcher |
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| Written by Luthier Bob | |||||
Tell us a bit about yourself 
I started out a Boiler Engineer in the U.S. Navy, while at shore duty 3 years I studied at the Academy of Art College in San Fransisco. I have applied this combined experience along with my musical background. No my instruments do not run on steam, I learned more about Electronics by the book and my Father than any other way. Along the way I got into doing repairs freelance while living in Portland Oregon, until that one day I just decided to build a Bass for myself from scratch. I moved back to my home town where my ancestors first settled in 1886 So thats why you might hear me say "120 years later & we're still JAMMING in the same little town. The style changes but SPIRIT OF MUSIC never dies." moving back here was an easy decision with the low overhead in this small town I decided its possible to have an online business. A very nice Customer left a comment for me on MySpace recently & said, "this man is an ARTIST, and he cares about what you want, he even took the time to call me !!! he wanted to know my musical influences, and what sort of tones i liked and This is because he wants to Tailor your instrument to you PERSONALLY. I'm surprised he didn't want my arm length,and my blood type. LOL, but I'm just saying, if you want a Fine Instrument Give Butch a call, he is a dying breed of True Craftsmen and will produce an instrument that you will most. What was the first instrument you built? A 6 string Bass. Swamp Ash body, bolt on Maple, Bubinga laminated neck with a Pau Ferro fingerboard. Music Man style pickup (from Carvin) & Jazz neck pickup. It sounded pretty good but its playability was not great, It took 5 more instruments ( keeping notes and testing everything I did), better parts (some i make), to get to the point where i liked the sound, function, and it would stay in tune. Now a few years later, I make something I think a Professional would be able to rely on with a Tone that can't be missed with the rest of the band or ensemble. How and why did you make it? How- Using very common tools although I had a router and templates for the neck pocket and pickup routing in my Garage. I now have a Shop and some pretty decent equipment with Jigs for production use. Why-Because I wanted a 6 string bass with my own style. More importantly, I thought most instruments you buy in a store are not set up properly, do not resonate and just sound gutless over all. Can you tell us about any current builds? Its taken a lot of planning but I finally am currently building the 12 string Contra Bass guitar in the works now. Spelled out, heres the tuning;
Then from my Tweaked Vintage line; a 4 string Jazz Bass , Alder body, Awesome quilt maple top with Orange burst, maple neck, palisander Rosewood, passive electronics with legendary (vintage style) VTV Ultra-Tone Capacitors, bassline antiquity 2 Jazz pickups, but then just when you think its all old but typical I added a classic BRASS tremolo bridge. The same one Stanley Clark used in his hay day. all Gold hardware and pickguard. The ultimate punchy growling funk machine. What inspires you? Happy customers!  Where do your ideas come from? I try and be as original as I can but everything comes from something, so I'd say off the top of my head Ritter Roya, Alembic, Pedulla, Ken Bebensee, amazing very original works of Art, and Robert Benedetto; I am trying to study everything he's ever written. In case anyone who reads this doesn't know, He's the world's foremost Archtop builder and holds a place in Guitar history for all time. I pay close attention to engineering design outside the stringed world as I do on the inside. I have found carbon Fiber to have a few more uses than just extra lite support. I also have found many new ways of finishing and texturing wood that stem from my days at the Academy of Art College in San Fransisco. What are your favorite woods? This reminds me of the question whats my favorite color? From the perspective of sound, there are contrasting tonewoods just as there are contrasting colors on a color wheel. Then each piece of wood from one tree does not sound the same. so, I judge by the sound of each wood first and plan the build by matching different woods to achieve the desired sound. I do not order wood usually, i actually hand pick it out and tap on it-(I get some weird looks sometimes.) Having said all that I try and lean on whats around me when applicable, Maple, Black Walnut, N.W.Washington Alder, Oregon ash, Redwood(when available-I have some now), Myrtle wood, Apple wood, Mahogany. I use exotics from all around the world too.  What innovations have you brought to guitar building? EXTREME DESIGNS & because several customers were asking for a Bass or Guitar with some Meat to it. Every time I build I try something new like a Bridge with more tone from the body,... MEAT!!! A pickup I am working with Pete Biltoft of "Vintage Vibe Guitars" for extended range instruments with adjustable pole pieces to overcome the distance due to the wide range of string size. They also have graduated distances between the magnets to accomadate the graduated string distance as do my bridges. Budget instruments; From the U.S.? Using Douglas Fir from my own back yard, carefully selected pieces of this wood are VERY musical and make great bodies, top it with your favorite wood and its as good as any mid range priced instrument on the market & less expensive. American Indians used to make some fine flutes from this wood and still do. The sound has snappy highs and strong mid range frequencies. What plans do you have for the future? An 11 string Contra Bass guitar, a couple heavy metal style Bass guitars. Then I'm planning a skateboard guitar (sk8ar) you'll be able to watch that build on MySpace bulletin and my blog-(should i do a demo- I'd probably fall on my ___), then I'll be finishing the Dragon Bass that breathes fire. I am interested in hollow body design, and will be making archtop guitars and some bass guitars with the old Gibby ripper sound but with a longer scale and completely different look. They all will have a wide tonal range and optional stereo output. What advice would you give to someone looking to buy a handmade instrument?
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