Luthier On Luthier With Michael Bashkin

On this month's podcast, I sit down with Dave Bruzza, lead guitarist of the contemporary band Greensky Bluegrass. We follow his career path from an aspiring luthier in Michigan all the way to his career today as a successful professional guitar player. We also dig into his guitar quiver and discuss what he values in each of his acoustics. Bruzza's on-stage gear is ever evolving, which he also discusses. We end up discussing his musical influences, heroes and musical outlook in this detailed interview. Links Mentioned: Greensky Bluegrass - http://greenskybluegrass.com/ Lyle Brewer - http://www.lylebrewermusic.com/Bryan Galloup - http://www.galloupguitars.com/Santa Cruz - https://www.santacruzguitar.com/Hipshot - https://www.hipshotproducts.com/K + K - http://www.kksound.com/Grace Audio - http://www.gracedesign.com/Catalinbread  - http://catalinbread.com/Sensaphonics - https://www.sensaphonics.com/Jake Robinson - http://www.robinsonguitars.com/ Support Luthier on Luthier via its Patreon page or purcha

On episode 4 of the Luthier on Luthier podcast, I interview classical guitar maker John Bogdanovich. John aspired to be a professional classical guitar player but was waylaid by stage fright and went onto another career path before he came to study with renown woodworker James Krenov. His studies with Krenov eventually led him back to the guitar world but this time as a maker. John is also the author of the excellent book Classical Guitar Making, published by Sterling press. In this in-depth interview, John and I cover a lot of ground and he makes no bones about where he sees room for improvement in today's players, guitar makers and their instruments. https://www.jsbguitars.com/ http://jameskrenov.com/ http://www.bashkinguitars.com https://www.fretboardjournal.com  

Before moving to the United States, Laurent Brondel was a professional musician in France for 20 years. He originally moved to New York and, along the way, Laurent started to work on his own guitars. Laurent eventually found himself in rural Main and, after working for a time at Bourgeois guitars he started building guitars under his own name. For our third episode, Laurent and I talk about this journey and hear his perspectives on the music industry, vintage Martins, his varnish finishes as well as his new electric guitars.

Burton Legeyt started building guitars without any formal training or apprenticeship.  Instead he came to guitarbuilding through painting, picture framing, metal working and vintage watchmaking equipment. His open-minded approach gives his guitars a distinctive look and feel, even down to the tuning machines. In this interview we cover restoring vintage tooling, his definition of art, why he started (and stopped) shaving braces with a razor blade.   http://legeytguitars.com http://www.bashkinguitars.com https://www.fretboardjournal.com  

Ervin Somogyi is often referred to as the luthier's luthier: His guitars are among the most well-known and sought after custom instruments being made today. Ervin has influenced the custom guitar world, not with his own guitars, but also by training some of today's top builders and by authoring his two-book series the Responsive Guitar. For our debut episode of Luthier on Luthier, Ervin and I cover a lot of topics including what he enjoys most about guitar building, his approach to understanding how guitars work and his thoughts on design.   http://www.esomogyi.com http://www.bashkinguitars.com https://www.fretboardjournal.com