Pribek

OK, this notion of art guitars, guitars as art, has been rattling around my brain for a couple of days now. Art is subjective, we all know that. May be art to you, not art to the next cat.

Now, the premise of taking a utilitarian noise making device and turning it in to a wall hanging…I’m not behind that. At the same time, I don’t feel that art should be relegated to museums. I think that displaying art, real art, in gas stations and laundromats would make perfect sense. Art where you exist from day to day.

So, I don’t totally dismiss the idea of a guitar as an art object but, is it possible to have an art guitar that is a one of a kind, sounds good, plays well and after it sustains some wear and tear from being used properly, remains a piece of art?

Pretty tall order.

Knocking around the web last night, I found a couple of things you should be aware of. The first is a very hip guitar/amp store called Destroy All Guitars…

Destroy All Guitars is a collective of boutique guitar luthiers and amp builders led by guitar industry wizard Cliff Cultreri. By banding together under Cliff’s representation the DAG collective of builders is able to offer the same pricing as their direct sales but with the benefit of a truly service oriented central sales hub, Cliff’s expertise and years of experience in the guitar industry, and the opportunity to bring you special one-of-a-kind instruments that are available only through DAG.

One of the guys that has his wares at Destroy All guitars is Phil Sylvester. Here is his website and this is his page at DAG.

Now, Phil is a player and a Berklee graduate. So, he’s not just making wall hangings. Phil says…

“My last twenty five years have been spent as a fine art painter, drawer, and sculptor. What I have learned from 20th Century master artists, Giacometti, Cezanne, Matisse, Johns, and others, is an economy of technique, doing what is necessary to get the job done, nothing more, nothing less. The work of these great artists is about expression above all, and all gratuitous craft is rigorously paired away. Most fine guitar making is obsessive about craft perfection. Mine is not. I strive to build instruments that sound exceptional, play beautifully, and are extremely interesting to look at. The instruments aren’t gratuitously tidy or perfectionistic or consistent. I tear them apart and rebuild them until I find them exciting. Perfect guitars are great, but there are plenty of those. I’m searching for something more raw, more direct.” – Phil Sylvester

Here is just one example of Phil’s work, the Pheo Horseshoe.

Pheo Horseshoe ($3200):

Built around a vintage Rickenbacker horseshoe pickup from a ten string lap steel, 8.8 K ohms. It growls. The pickup is mounted so that it can be slid from bridge position to neck position and everywhere in between. It can be slid by hand while playing and has height adjusting mechanisms that assure that the strings go through the pickup at the optimal height in all positions. The body is made from swamp ash pieces from an early 50’s multi-neck Fender lap steel (that couldn’t be restored, you vintage Nazis). This wood is old, well played in, and has its original lacquer finish. The neck is a Fernandes medium C, 8.5 inch radius, maple with a rosewood veneer cap like late 60’s Fenders. Scale length is 25.5 inches.

See, I would plug that in just to hear it even if I didn’t know it was art.
Take a look at the rest of Phil’s work and, if your cup of meat tends to be a more traditional type plank, spend some time browsing at Destroy All Guitars.