How do you soothe a new Savage guitar?
Play music to it.
The riddle is based in real lore, says island guitar-maker Ken Savage.
“When you put strings on them for the first time, guitars don’t like the 168 pounds of pressure,” he said. “When you play music really loud, it vibrates the wood down to the molecular structure.”
The music helps relax the guitar and “open up” the sound, he says.
The former boat-builder and contractor opens his home-based workshop for the Bainbridge Island Winter Studio Tour next weekend.
Savage will show finished instruments and works-in-progress that demonstrate how he adapts traditional techniques to bend wood into the acoustic guitar’s signature hourglass shape.
Savage makes four basic models that vary in length from 38 to 41 inches and nip the waist from 10 inches to 8. Each features at least five exotic woods.
The size and contour of the instrument shapes the sound, and the character of the wood colors it, he says. Madagascar rosewood makes a dark, rich tone, while the same guitar in maple will be crisp and articulate.
“I quickly figured out I couldn’t make one guitar for all,” Savage said. “A lot has to do with the player and what he’s looking for.”
Savage begins by “book-matching” – splitting a piece of wood in two and placing the pieces, with their mirror-image grain, side by side like the open pages of a book, to form the guitar’s back.
Next, the pieces destined to be the sides are thinned to .107 inches in Savage’s three-foot wide sander.
“That belt sander costs more than my car,” he quipped.
The next decision is an aesthetic one, as Savage decides, based on the grain, which end of the wood glued in book-match configuration will be best suited to the wider heel of the guitar.
“I like the straight grain at the top,” he said. “That’s what makes the difference between factory and hand-made; factory guitars don’t consider the grain at all.”
The sides are bent into shape on a wood and stainless steel mold that Savage heats to 220 degrees.
When he began making guitars four years ago, Savage deliberately broke between 50 and 60 pieces of inexpensive wood to familiarize himself with its breaking point.
He hasn’t broken a piece since, he says.
The top and back of the instrument are pressed into slightly convex molds to lend them a subtle dome shape, rather than the traditional flat surface.
The curve helps the instrument survive humidity changes, says Savage, who trained to be an engineer.
Savage left college before obtaining his engineering degree.
“I am a ‘worker bee,’” he said. “I like to make things…Anything that’s complicated, I love to do it.”
After crafting a single guitar for himself, Savage soon had orders for others.
Applying his engineering skill
and woodworking savvy to his new craft, Savage spent seven months building his own forms and tools. He refurbished his shop and added a climate-controlled assembly room to condition his instruments for a wide range of humidity levels.
His first guitar took 100 hours to make, but now he’ll spend 45 hours on an instrument.
“In three years I’ve made 70 guitars,” he said, “so the learning curve is steep. If I could get it down to 30 hours, I could afford another boat.”
Savage, who now offers guitar-making classes, was recently juried
into the country’s premiere guitar show, the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in California.
“You’ve got 120 of the best guitar-makers in the world,” he said, “and I’m showing my guitars with them.”
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The Bainbridge Island Winter Studio Tour and Sale features the works of 55 artists in community halls and home studios Dec. 5-7.
Tour hours are Friday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Maps for this free, self-guided tour are available at BAC and www.bistudiotour.com.
