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AAh, the guitar, the world's most popularinstrument…easy to transport, capa-ble of playing melody and accompani-

ment (sometimes simultaneously), fairly easyto learn to play (but maddeningly difficult toplay well), easy on the eyes and ears, andadaptable to virtually every kind of music fromAndres Segovia to Jimi Hendrix; from DjangoReinhardt to Doc Watson. There are millionsof them out there.

But in a basement workshop outside ofGordonsville, one out of a million is beingmade one at a time. "We're very particularabout being meticulous," says Brian Calhoun,a soft spoken gentle giant of a fellow who canjust as easily shave tenths of millimeters off ofa piece of rosewood as he can do a 360 slam

were doing."In the old days they did everything by

hand. They even used to bend the mois-tened sides over a metal tube with apropane torch heating the inside. "Now,three people working full time, we try tocut out the parts that don't really matterif you do them by hand or not," explainsBrian. But he quickly adds, "a lot of thisstuff, like carving the bracing and gettingthe tops joined right, you need handtools; they do a better job than amachine could do."

Brian snaps open a guitar case andpulls out their "000" model. It goes forabout $3,500. It is a relatively thin-bod-ied, light guitar. "It's easy to get your armaround it, it sits on your leg nice, and ithas a different sound," Brian says withobvious affection. He casually strumsan E chord. The projection, volume andtone are outstanding from such a smallinstrument. "We sell a lot of these to fin-ger style players and people who areplaying slower, prettier music." Then hepulls out the "Dreadnought model;" thetone is even richer. This is the guitar thelickety-split flatpickers like. It will bring

about $5,200.He points to a pale line outlining the

feminine hour glass shape of the bodyand stretching up each side of thetapered neck and around the edge ofthe peg head. It is a tiny strip of mapleno wider than a guitar's third string. Heturns the instrument over and points tothe joinery of the neck to the body…"lit-tle details we feel we want to have per-fect, even though nobody notices."Believe me, we noticed.

So what's next for RockbridgeGuitars? Sell out? Grow too big toofast? Become an IPO on the stock mar-ket? Whoa! Slow down!

Brian ponders the question. "We goback and forth about expanding or not,"he says hesitantly. "We have four or fivedealers right now who take up 20 per-cent of the orders." Dealers are good forpeople who don't want to wait a year anda half for a guitar. If Randall and Brianexpand, they will have to take on moredealers. "Right now it's nice to takedirect orders….it's also neat to work withthe customers instead of just buildingstock models to go and put in the store."

A r a b - A p p a l a c h i a nMusic???

Believe it or not, there is aconnection, and it is calledKantara. Consisting of threeor four Americans and threeTunisians, this band will beplaying this Sunday evening(May 27) at the GravityLounge just off the downtownmall in Charlottesville.

Gordonsville luthier BrianCalhoun plays rhythm guitarin this band and he is joinedby his fiddler/violinist wife,Ann Marie Calhoun.Sponsored by the U.S. StateDepartment, this effort atmusical diplomacy "combinestraditional Appalachian musicwith traditional Tunisianmusic."

Not long ago, Brian, AnnMarie and the band touredItaly and Tunisia, "promotingMuslim-American relations,"to rave reviews. "It actuallyhad an impact," says Brian of

the band's ability to improveAmerica's image overseas. "Itactually made a difference."Now the band will do thesame in the states with stopsin Charlottesville, Lexington,Ashland, and Washington,DC.

Brian and Ann Marie mar-ried in 2002. At the time shewas the fiddler for the bandOld School Freight Train, ledby Gordonsville native, JesseHarper (see Insider, Nov. 10,2005).

In fact Jesse is a proudowner of a Rockbridge guitar.Ann Marie decided to leavethe band to be closer to home.She taught fiddle and violin atWoodberry Forest for severalyears. Now she's back on theroad again, with Kantara.And recently she returnedfrom a tour of six SouthAmerican countries, playingfiddle for British rock bandJethro Tull!

Rockin’ RockbridgeRockbridge

Guitars

"We're veryparticular

about being meticulous."

--Brian Calhoun

The process of ordering a Rockbridge guitarstarts with a phone call. The wait list is a year

and a half. At right, each guitar takes threemonths to build. The smaller and thinner "000"

model at left and the larger "Dreadnought"model at right. Below, Brian Calhoun must

consider side to side and up/down tolerancesto properly adjust the neck of a Rockbridge

guitar.

Photos by Phil Audibert

KantaraKantara

A page from the

RockbridgeGuitars

brochureshows off

inlay workand

musicians'testimonialsabout theseoutstandinginstruments.

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dunk on the neighborhood basketball court.Welcome to Rockbridge Guitars, consistingof two partners, Randall Ray in Lexingtonand Brian Calhoun right here inGordonsville. Just listen to what profession-al musicians are saying about these luthiers.

"The craftsmanship of the Rockbridgeguitar is exceptional. Its flawless build andbrilliant sound encase some of the finesttones to be heard in a new guitar today."That's Cody Kilby, the national flatpickingchampion and guitarist for Ricky Scaggsand Kentucky Thunder talking.

"This is hands-down the best new guitarI've ever been fortunate enough to own. I feelextremely lucky," says Roy Curry, two-timenational flatpicking champion and guitaristfor Lone Mountain Band. How about blue-grass queen, Rhonda Vincent; she ownsthree Rockbridge Guitars…or the guitaristfor the Dixie Chicks. The list goes on and on.

But if you want to buy one of these worksof art, you need to, first, shell out somebucks and then stand in line for a year and ahalf. Randall and Brian, with the help ofemployee Adam McNeil, have 85 guitars onorder. It takes three months to make one ofthese masterpieces, sometimes longer.Currently, one completed Rockbridge guitarleaves Gordonsville for its new owner everyweek.

"We spend a lot of time making sure thesethings look good, but the most importantthing is that they play right," points out Brianfrom his surprisingly uncluttered basementworkshop. One room contains the powertools…anything that makes dust; the otherroom is home to the hand tools and works inprogress. Brian and Adam spend every day,Monday through Thursday 7 a.m. ‘til 6:30p.m. making sure that every Rockbridge gui-tar will not only please the eye and the hand,but most importantly, the ear.

It all starts with wood and Brian's mostimportant hand tools, which are sitting oneither side of his head...his ears. He spendsa lot of time tapping on sheets of Adirondackspruce and Western red cedar. "Each type ofwood gives a totally different sound," heexplains. "We use these woods (spruce,mahogany, rosewood) because of the waythey sound, first of all, and the way they looksecond of all."

Essentially a flat-top guitar, which isn'texactly flat by the way, has its back and sidesmade out of the same wood, usuallymahogany or rosewood. The all-importantspruce or cedar top is the face or soundingboard of the instrument. "When you hit astring the top and back are moving," points

out Brian. He demonstrates by playing achord on one of his guitars. It rings glorious-ly. Then he presses the fleshy part of hisarm to the body of the guitar like a dampen-

er. It does not ringand sustain aswell.

"Each piece ofwood is going tobe totally differ-ent," he contin-ues. He can runtwo tops of thesame kind ofwood through athickness sander,and "one of themis going to bestiffer than theother. One ofthem is going toring more whenyou tap on it. Andso what we can do as a small shop is get themost out of each piece of wood." A stiffpiece of wood he'll make thinner by two orthree-tenths of a millimeter. Randall will then

compensate for that difference when hemakes the all-important bracing. "We flex onit by hand, tap on it by ear, we can get theoptimum sound that that piece of wood has

to offer asopposed to run-ning everythingthrough like amachine would doit."

Obviously, thiskind of know-howdid not come toBrian overnight.Born and raised inR o c k b r i d g eCounty, he startedplaying guitar inhigh school, andlearned the rudi-ments of instru-ment building fromhis guitar teacher.

He lasted one semester at Berklee School ofMusic in the Boston area, before he cameback home and underwent apprenticeshipswith a mandolin maker and a violin maker.

Then he discovered inlay work, "and thatbecame my first paying job." To this day, hisincredibly complex and precise inlay workcan be seen on high-end Stelling banjos aswell as Rockbridge guitars.

Meanwhile, "one of my guitar mentors,"Randall Ray of Lexington had 15 yearsexperience building three or four custommade guitars per year, mostly as a serioushobby. He approached Brian about doingsome inlay work. Then he asked Brian tocarve a neck for him. One day they looked ateach other and said, "We could make somenice guitars if we work together."

At this point they weren't even putting aname on the headstock of the instrumentsthey were building. So, they came uponRockbridge Guitars, sold one to Larry Keelof the Larry Keel Experience, and the rest ishistory. That was in 2002. "At some point westarted getting large numbers of orders andstarted selling more and more guitars to pro-fessional players. That's what did it for us,"says Brian. "We don't really advertise, andwe get orders from all over the world." Goodold word of mouth.

About a year and a half ago, Brian hiredAdam, who had experience in woodworking,but not instrument building. For Brian thatwas a good thing because, "we were lookingfor somebody who was good at woodwork-ing but who wasn't going to tell us how tobuild guitars. So he works out great." ForAdam's part, "It was a little weird startingbecause I'm used to working in 16ths (of aninch) and now I'm working in 32nds, 64ths,tenths of millimeters."

Today Brian and Randall split the workbetween the two workshops. Brian andAdam make the tops, backs and sides andsend them unassembled "almost like a kit" toRandall, who carves the braces and assem-bles the bodies. He then ships them back toBrian who has made the neck and finger-board and done the inlay work. Each guitarmakes four trips over the mountain betweenGordonsville and Lexington.

Rockbridge guitars are truly unique notjust because they are built to each cus-tomer's specifications, but also because ofsome innovation on Brian and Randall'spart. "The ideal guitar is an old Martin,"explains Brian. "But we didn't want to makean exact copy of an old Martin." Besides,Randall really liked the sound of old Gibsonguitars too. "We took our favorite aspects ofMartin and our favorite aspects of Gibsonand we combined the two. Then we cameup with some other things along the way,adding our own interpretations of what they

SSo you've decided you want aRockbridge Guitar. It all startswith a phone call. "We have lots of

options," says Brian: model, wood choice,trim, inlay, neck width and shape, the listof choices goes on forev-er; so is the list of deci-sions to be made.

Brian points to thecompany's first left-hand-ed guitar. "This guy's gui-tar is going to cost over$7,000; he knows whathe wants…but a lot oftimes they don't know,and I'll talk them throughit." Still, he adds, "Noone's going to come inand buy their first guitarfrom us, so they'll know alittle about what theywant." A couple of clientshave even flown their pri-vate planes down to theGordonsville Airport topick out their wood!Once final approval isgiven and a deposittaken, the price of theguitar is locked in, eventhough prices may go upwhile it is being built.

Now it's time for Brian andAdam to get to work. "Basically thefirst part of the guitar is buildingparts." The tops and backs areindividually thickness sandedaccording to their stiffness andjoined. The sides are moistenedand placed between two heatingsheets. A silicon heating blanketbrings the temperature up to 300degrees. The sides are carefullybent over the form and after cool-ing are joined together to keeptheir hourglass shape.

Next, the body of the guitar, stillin pieces, is sent to Randall for thecrucial bracing procedure. "It's notabout aesthetics; it's about gettingthe braces to the proper thicknessfor the individual top," explainsBrian. Once the bracing is in, thebody is assembled with a glue that driesrock-hard ("you don't want somethinggummy in there that takes away from thesound being transmitted"). The assem-bled body is sent back to Gordonsville,

where Brian and Adam do the delicatework of putting in the binding, a fine trimaround the edges of the guitar that coversthe exposed end grain of the tops andbacks.

They've also been working on theneck, making tiny adjustments with "blaz-ing sharp" chisels to the dovetail joint tothe body. "It's hard because if you do toomuch of one thing then it's going to mess

with the other," says Brian of the up/downand side to side adjustments. They donot glue the neck, but bolt it instead to thebody. "That way, down the road, if weever have to take the neck off, it's really

easy." Next comes inlay work,

hours with a coping saw with ablade so tiny you can hardlysee it…hundreds… thousandsof pieces of shell, wood, metaland stone. Some inlay jobstake as long as it took to buildthe instrument itself…theartist's signature, family crests,birds, flowers, Celtic designs,the Simpsons even. On a workin progress, Bart and Homerchase each other up and downthe neck!

Once he's routed the inlaysinto the fingerboard and headstock, he glues it to the neckand installs the silver/nickelfrets. Then they shape theneck to the player's desiredthickness, "and then every-thing is very meticulouslysanded."

The instrument then goesupstairs to a converted laun-dry room to be sprayed with

environmentally friendly water-basedlacquer. It hangs to dry somewhatignominiously from a common show-er rod in a basement bathroom.

One more trip across the moun-tain so Randall can attach the neck,set the bridge, attach the tuners andstring it up. Then back toGordonsville, "and we let it sit for acouple of days. And then I do the set-up work which is one of the singlemost time-consuming parts," saysBrian. This includes making the gui-tar feel right to the player…intona-tion, string height, action, truss rodadjustment, frets leveled to within1/10 of a millimeter, followed by afinal buffing and a new set of strings.The pick guard is the last thing toinstall before it is shipped.

You are now the proud owner of aRockbridge guitar. Go ahead and play it;you've waited a year and a half. It willsound like nothing you have heardbefore, and you'll keep it for the rest ofyour life.

Above left, Brian Calhoun uses a tiny coping saw such as this to cut each piece of inlay. Notonly does he do this work for all Rockbridge guitars but also for high-end Stelling banjos.

Above right, using "blazing sharp" chisels, Brian Calhoun makes minute adjustments to thedovetailed neck joint. Although certain routine tasks are done by machines, the most deli-

cate are accomplished with hand tools. Below, that's a Rockbridge guitar that RhondaVincent is playing. The bluegrass artist owns three.

Top photos by Phil Audibert. Bottom photo contributed.

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Above, although these particular examples will not be used, theyshow the bracing patterns for guitar tops and backs. Bracing plays a

crucial role in how a guitar sounds. Below, Adam McNeil graduallycranks down on the waist of some guitar binding that he is shaping.Note the completed half side in the foreground. The process of wet-ting and heating the wood to bend it into a guitar side has drawn sap

to the surface. It will be scraped and sanded away before finishing.Photos by Phil Audibert