In 1985, having just moved home and the FBG workshop from Richmond, NH to Newfane, VT, I wanted to build a guitar for my son Jacob. I had a very fine set of koa which came from my days as the shop foreman at Gurian guitars. The back had been damaged so that it was …
During my early years in NYC at Gurian Guitars, there was quite a buzz around flat-top conversions of Martin F-style arch tops done by the Silber brothers. The first of these, as I understand it, was of a Brazilian rosewood F-9 which went to David Bromberg. That guitar took the world by storm, and eventually …
Before the “Folk Boom” of the late 1950’s or the explosion of acoustic guitars into rock and roll a decade later, I was fortunate that my family was part of an extended circle of musical friends. several of whom owned guitars which, twenty-five years later, would be more valuable than their homes. Three of those …
My life changed immeasurably in many ways when I began working in a boatyard in Connecticut in my pre-teen years. I made friendships there which would last my entire life. I was introduced to the highest levels of woodworking craftsmanship I would ever know, and I was introduced to the Blues. Much of this came …
I first met Paul Geremia at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck. Paul’s musical skills seemed to be complete even when he was a very young man: his guitar playing is incredibly versatile, his harmonica work exceptional, his singing and his writing stellar. We shared a love of …
Among the guitars I saw very rarely, but always found myself loving, have been various flat top variations of Gibson’s Iconic L-5 arch top. I vividly recall the first couple J-185’s I encountered in the ’50’s. Fingerstyle blues with bare fingers, a perfectly balanced voice and a unique midrange I had heard nowhere else. Very …
