Official Luthiers Forum!

I stumbled upon a video tour of Kazuo Yairi's factory. Fun to watch, lots of edge tools, a little Japanese luthier philosophy. He plays music FOR his guitars for several weeks before he ships them.

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Gabriel Regalbuto
Carlsbad, California
Freedom 35!

Thanks for that. Ive got a K Yairi flamenco instrument that I bought in 1978....made of Japanese Cyprus (Hinoki)and its got peg tuners.

I do not know if it is a matter of Zen or what,
but there are bunch of wonderfull luthiers in Japan.

There seems to be a kind of Japan school of steel strings too,
since they are using a type of esthetics that are typical to them,
and that tells them apart from the others. Although, it seems that quite a few of them apprenticed with Erwin.

Wonderfull craftsmen from from a country with wonderfull heritage of crafts.

Here's the second half.



Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I should add that I used to own a little cedar/mahogany Rag65 (my son's got it now), certainly one of the best little guitars I've ever played. To me this is what 'factory' production should be like.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Now those guys have SHARP tools! Cool videos.
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Yes I loved how those chisels cut through bracing like laser I must get myself one of them 8000 stones

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Build log

Its hard to tell from the low quality of the youtube compression, but if you look close, the wood slices itself to meet the master's chisel! This is unique to the Japanese style, and not taught at Ervin's workshops.

Though this skill requires direct apprenticeship and considerable hours of meditation to master, on the practical side, I'm going to have to give the bridge design a shot. I have a Yairi 12 string, and have always loved the aesthetic, and the tone is awesome.

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Gabriel Regalbuto
Carlsbad, California
Freedom 35!

Another thanks for the links. Very informative of the building methods. and indeed, they are using sharp tools! I was very impressed with the neck carving in part one.

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Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

yes, I wrote it badly.

What I meant was that there are bunch of younger individual luthiers from Japan,
who continue the master craftsman tradition which is strong in Japan,
and also seem to share some aesthetic features. No straigth connection to those Yairi videos.
And on the side note, few of those younger japanese luthiers have apprenticed to Erwin,
like Michiro Matsuda.

sorry about the confusion.

I wonder what type of glue they are using- it does not appear to be heated.

How would you like to go poking around that stash!!!

Thanks for sharing.

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It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

A great video. Always something new to learn. Thanks.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

Don't think I have yet seen so much tonewood stored in one place.

Aside from that, fascinating vids, thanks for posting.Just loving watching those edge tools at work.

J,

I thought that at first but if you look at 2:28 in the first video you can see the water bath on the hot plate for the hot hide glue as they glue the top halves together.

Fascinating stuff.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

I think I remember him mentioning using animal glue.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars