Making a Book About Making a Guitar

Spanish explorers, singing cowboys, Hawaiians, gypsies and 19th century women hanging out in their parlors all played big roles in make the guitar an American cultural icon. That's what Tim Brookes, guitarist, writer and NPR contributor, says in Guitar: An American Life. As he traces the guitar's rises and falls, Brookes weaves in chapters on the construction of his new guitar by a Vermont luthier. It's hard to say which side of the story is more interesting and both are exceptionally well told.

I especially liked Brookes' observation about the instruments in classic Western movies. The guitar was always played by a handsome heroic cowboy while some funny-looking fellow in a derby and suspenders was pounding cartoonish music on the piano just before it was smashed to splinters in the big barroom fight scene. Affordable, portable and possessing an exceptionally high cool quotient, the guitar has it all over the piano, I'm afraid.

Brookes' chronicle of the guitar-making process was semi-fascinating, what with all the wood selection, crucial bracing and precise sanding involved. The knowledge and craftsmanship that go into making a guitar are fairly staggering, especially when you're using materials more sophisticated than fishing line and 3/4-inch plywood (see the I Come From a Short Line of Luthiers post below). But it all comes down to vibrating strings, air and wood.