Guest Luthier Series - Matt Artinger

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Hey Ex!

I haven't....but it's not to say that it's not in my future!!!! ;-)

 

[mrfjones]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

I believe saw an old gibson archtop that you rebuilt. The top was smashed in and you carved a new one out of mahogany. I have always wondered why you chose that wood to use on that application. what makes a mahogany hollow body different to your ears?

 

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Hi Mrfjones!-

Yes....You know what? Pure instinct, and it proved to be right in the end result. For some reason, I envisioned a bit 'spankier', more articulate guitar, and because I increased the scale length, I decided to go with mahogany rather than spruce to accentuate the longer scale.

Mahogany is a truly magical wood for archtop guitars when it's carved properly. It's a much more 3-dimensional sounding wood than the traditional spruce/maple combo, and it's extremely dynamically sensitive. With all mahogany construction, you can completely change the attitude of the guitar by your right hand...it can be backed off and be smooth as butter, but can be dug into and it'll bark on command...it's very underrated in my opinion, and I think alot of makers shy away from it first-because it's non traditional, and they're afraid that the marketplace won't understand, and secondly-because it's not as visually striking as the traditional combo. For total performance though, it runs circles around most other woods I use...it's amazing

 

[mrfjones]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

thank you very much for the insight, and of course thank you for being here today. You have made some wonderful instruments and one day I hope to play well enough to be able to justify having one.

 

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

I sincerely appreciate that, and thank you for participating with me!!!!!

 

[dd12939]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

I spent some time looking at your gallery and this guitar really caught my eye. I'm not a big "graphics" kind of guy, but the design is just stunning. Can you tell me a bit about it? Thanks!

 

[Wattage]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Have you thought of doing an import line of designs of yours? What kind of pluses and minuses do you think there would be if you went ahead with something like that? What do you think the next steps business wise would be?

 

[dd12939]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Also, who would you say have been your favorite people you've had the pleasure to meet because of your position?
Thanks,
David

 

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Hey dd!

It's my 'chopper 1' and was purely inspired by the custom motorcycle builders who started to pop up on tv several years ago. The greatest part about those flames is that they're done in prismatic flip paint...so depending on what angle the guitar is held, the flames can turn from red, to yellow, to blue, to purple!!!!

 

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Man oh man......it's crossed my mind SOOOO many times to do an import line, but i think the main thing holding that back is that there is already a glut of import guitars out there, so it would have tons of competition at it's pricepoint...distribution would also be a rough road....a bigger fantasy would be to see an american guitar company adopt my designs and put them out at a higher pricepoint to compete with the big boys...I think we could really do some damage if everything was done right!

 

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

It's been a whilrwind dd....i've gotten the chance to meet some of my guitar heroes, to sports figures, to actors, etc....guitarmaking is definitely a career that intersects with alot of different types of famous people who are unsuspecting guitar enthisiasts!!!

 

[Aceman]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

You mentioned the importance of the inside of the house - and that you love mahogany (I mean, it's 80% of a Les Paul - who wouldn't?!?!?).

How do you go about finding the right piece of wood (mahogany). What says tone to you in a log/slab? Can you tell a piece that will drive a build one way or the other, such as one that would work for a semi hollow vs one that screams make me into a solidbody?

Is it getting tougher to find good wood?

 

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

it definitely is getting trickier, and it's coming in from different countries and slightly different climate zones. I can't tell from the log form, but can tell from the rough sawn form.....if in it's roughsawn form, it's fuzzy and stringy looking---no good...these boards tend to thud when they hit the concrete floor. If it looks cleanly roughsawn and makes a ringing kabong sound as it hits the floor, it's the good stuff! This carries through for use in all applications of mahogany.....hard to explain in any other way, but at a lumberyard, you can tell pretty quickly which are the quality boards and which are the junkier ones. I luckily still have the luxury of going to a lumberyard within an hour of me to hand select my mahogany...I don't know what I would do if I had to buy it sight unseen because it varies SO much....

 

[BeeGee]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Hey Matt,

You're guitars are stunning, it's great to see a younger luthier pumping out such pieces of art. As someone who likes modding guitars and has always wanted to get into building guitars, my question is how did you get started with building guitars? Did you just grab a saw and start cutting away and learn what you liked by trial and error?

 

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Hey BeeGee!!

Thank you SO much!

To answer your question, Yes----you nailed it....I started by taking apart old kays, harmonys, and import strat styled guitars apart in my early teens, and progressed throughout my teens using the school of hard knocks! I started to gradually purchase and accumulate tools beyond the screwdrivers and rusty butter knives I used as a kid, and with the addition of every tool, things got a little easier, ideas got a bit more plentiful, and I started to improve!

 

[Matt Artinger]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

I would like to thank Evan Skopp for inviting me to spend time with you guys today, and to thank you ALL for participating! If anyone has any additional questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me at matt@artingerguitar.com and if any of you haven't visited my site yet, please do at www.artingerguitar.com There are new guitars being posted in the gallery pages every few weeks, so visit often to see the latest completed guitars rolling out of the shop!

Thank you all once again, and I had a great time today!!!!!

Matt Artinger, Artinger Custom Guitars

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Hey Matt, glad to have you here!
Many good questions here, more than a few were questions I wanted to ask myself.

I see that you've built both acoustic and electric. Which however is the no.1 and which the "by the way". Or are they both perfectly equal. Which do you enjoy building more?
To expand this some more, which type of guitar (including shape and gender) do you like building the most?

Also, I was wondering whether you had built some more rock/metal oriented guitars (I don't necessarily mean aggressive looking but rather more rock/metal oriented tone and play-wise).
If so how did you like it and, would you gladly do it again or would it be just to make the player happy?
(I hope I'm wording this correctly).

Anyway, thanks again and great to have you here in our little corner of the web!

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Thank you very much for answering my questions and for providing a good read. Best of luck with the guitars, keep up the good work, and if i see one over this side of the pond ill definitely give it a whirl! Now... gotta get some of that prismatic flip paint...

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Thanks so much to Matt for making this another enjoyable and informative Guest Luthier chat. And thanks to all of you for taking part.

GuitarSandwich won the beanie. PM has been sent.

 

[DLT]

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

Re: LIVE NOW - Guest Luthier Matt Artinger

:crying: I forgot! :crying:

Sorry, Evan. I was wrapped up into testing out the Carvin Nomad amp I just bought.