Luca Waldner

I believe that an instrumental performance is a dynamic collaboration between composer, instrument makers, players and audience. In this respect a musical instrument is both an artistic expression of its maker and a conduit by which a performer breathes artistic life into a composer's creation. Given this symbiotic relationship, I believe an instrument maker must among other things study old instruments. This study is important not so much to reproduce instruments that have already been perfectly realized by others and which have lived and continue to live a glorious existence, but because it is important to recover and understand the sensibility and thought which lay behind these instruments' creation. By engaging in such study an informed and aspiring instrument maker of talent, sensitivity and conviction can maintain, extend and enrich the path begun by others.

My study of the guitar began at the age of twelve under the guidance of Roberto Lambo and continued under Linda Calsolaro upon entering the Bari Conservatory of Music. The final three years of my studies were completed at the Castelfranco Veneto Conservatory with Stefano Grondona, graduating with top marks. Both during my studies and after I taught and performed, but one year after graduation for purely existential reasons, I embarked upon the long road to becoming a guitar maker and gradually shifted all my activity towards the building of guitars until it became my sole occupation.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to examine and analyze the guitars of the most famous Spanish guitar makers, Santos Hernandez, Francisco Simplicio, Enrique Garcia, Manuel Ramirez, Vicente Arias, José Ramirez, José Romanillos and non-Spaniards Hermann Hauser and David Rubio. However, when I came across the instruments of Antonio de Torres my research for a point of reference stopped. From my analysis of Torres' guitars my personal development took shape and consciousness.

When I build an instrument I strive towards two goals: expressive sound and excellence in construction. With this said, I aspire in each of my guitars to slightly different goals. For my goals are subject to ongoing developments - both small and large - developments brought about by technical refinements and continuous learning. The result is that not a single one of my guitars is the same as another. This statement is somewhat abused in the craftsmanship world. But it's true in the sense that every instrument is born through a negation of the former. Such an approach is necessary if one doesn't want to remain stuck in the same place, repeating stereotypically the manufacture of the same product. Still, within the arc of my changing goals one can observe a kind of dynamic continuity between successive instruments.

I make my guitars by myself and completely from scratch, the only exception being the frets, the tuning machine heads and the strings. I always make the soundboard from spruce, split along the grain and suitably seasoned. Woods for sides and back can vary, and the choice is made when planning and designing a new instrument. Contrary to a common legend, it's not true that the sound of an instrument depends strongly on the woods of which it's made: the important point is the instrument's overall design and construction. For example, the best guitars I have had the chance to play are made of cypress and maple, cheap woods commercially speaking. I always use mahogany for the neck and ebony or rosewood for the fingerboard. I design decorations at my discretion.

My guitars at first sight can appear to be quite delicate - especially when comparing them to modern industrially produced guitars, where wood thicknesses are much greater. Fully equipped with strings and tuning machines my guitars weigh 1300÷1400 grams, depending on the woods used for the back and sides. Thicknesses on my guitars are around 1.7 mm for the sides, 2.2 mm for the back and 1.9 mm for the soundboard. It's true that these tolerances can be considered thin, but one must not be deceived about the durability, mechanical sturdiness and acoustic performance of my instrument as a whole. In this respect one should look to the outstanding example of Antonio de Torres' guitars, which (with even thinner thicknesses) appear to us today in their full acoustic power and mechanical strength.

With these thicknesses the 40 kg of string tension necessarily will warp somewhat the soundboard: this is not only inevitable, but absolutely necessary to allow the entire instrument's structure to settle and reach equilibrium. When I design an instrument this settling effect is carefully planned. Thus, I assemble the soundboard in such a way that its elasticity and flexibility are not only maintained, but increased by string tension. It would be a very serious problem if an instrument were so rigid not to change its shape under a 40 kg of string tension! Thus, thin soundboard thicknesses don't imply necessarily overall fragility of an instrument: indeed, since the overall bearing structure is very strong and absorbs most of the main task of resisting string tension, the soundboard's on my guitars are freed for optimal sound production.

I use various kinds of glue: synthetic for generic assembly (neck-head, for instance), and hot glue for the whole sound box. The hot glue (in my case bone glue) is an excellent adhesive with a number of advantages for lutherie: outstanding acoustic performance, very tenacious grip, and reversibility (most important should the instrument need to be repaired). I apply a shellac based finish to my guitars. This technique is an ancient one, hard to master and lengthy to use. But it is an essential element to achieving the finest visual and acoustic results. Finally, all my instruments are built, fully assembled and stored in an electronically controlled environment with a relative humidity of 50%, with a ±1% tolerance. (Learn more).