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Event
VIGF Master Class: Ervin Somogyi - An Essential Principle of Guitar Design / The First Principle of Guitar Bracing
An Essential Principle of Guitar Design
Guitars used to all have pretty much the same sizes and shapes. That has changed; there are now lots of shapes and designs. Some of these are aesthetically correct, and some aren't. Most people have not gone to art school and they haven't studied aesthetics; but they know when they see something that they like, and when they see something that they don't. This lecture is about what things need to be happening for a guitar to look more beautiful, attractive, interesting, appreciated -- and hopefully bought -- than the one that is sitting next to it.
The First Principle of Guitar Bracing
The guitar's bracing is possibly the most hotly debated area of contemporary guitar making. Everyone has a theory or a favorite bracing layout, and hardly any two of these are fully alike. Yet, there is a little-known and shamefully overlooked formula at play in successful guitars, that is not at play in less successful ones. This workshop is about that formula, or principle.
ERVIN SOMOGYI
Ervin Somogyi has written two world renowned volumes on lutherie, The Responsive Guitar and Making the Responsive Guitar, as well as a DVD, Voicing the Guitar, produced at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in 2009.
Building guitars started out as a hobby. At first, Somogyi had little hope of making a living at it, he says. With few how-to books available or schools where he could take classes, he learned primarily by getting his hands on some well-made instruments and studying them. It was a very oddball activity, he says. Now, as one of the grand old men of American lutherie, Somogyi is often invited to lecture at guitar shows and exhibitions.[3]
Building primarily high-end steel-string guitars that sell for over $30,000 each, Somogyi cultivates a clientele of serious musicianssuch as the late John Denver and Michael Hedges, and fingerstyle master Alex de Grassias well as collectors who buy his instruments as investments. Recording artists such as Daniel Hecht and George Winston list Somogyi as the builder of their guitars for several past and present albums.
Working in his Temescal district shop, he creates exactly one handmade, steel-string acoustic guitar per month, twelve annually (he doesn't take vacations), [more than] 456 since he started in the early 1970s.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Ervin Somogyi fled Europe with his family during World War II. After living in Austria, England, Cuba and Mexico, he eventually moved to the United States at age 15. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in English, he joined the Peace Corps, attended graduate school and supported himself as a flamenco guitarist, but he eventually gravitated back to the East Bay, which has been his home base since about 1972.
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LocationCreekside Community Center (View)
1 Athletes Way
Vancouver, BC V5Y 0B1
Canada
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