Lars Vendel: Does It All
Swedish luthier and guitar player Lars Vendel plays here his composition “June” (tuning D A D F# B D) on one of his guitars. He took care also of the recording in his own private studio (details are available in the youtube description).
Some information about Lars taken from his website http://www.vendel-guitar.com/vendel-guitar.com/Welcome.html:
“After nearly 20 years as a car body repair, I decided to change careers from cars to my biggest interest, music. I dusted off my old guitar and began to study music at Ingesunds folk high school in Arvika, Sweden. During this study year, a whole new world appeared and the guitar became my passion. I quickly fell for American folk/blues and fingerstyle became an absolute favorite of mine. My demands for the right sound and guitar increased with time and this marked the start of a new career.
I have always worked with my hands, once a craftsman always a craftsman. I started a time consuming research and I finally decided to build a guitar. I got in touch with John Hall, authorized Martin repairer and owner of Blues Creek Guitars, he has everything from lathier tools to tonewood and guitar kits. I ordered thus a box of wood and built my very first guitar.
After everything I’ve built, custom cars, motorcycles, exhibition vehicles, the guitar is by far the hardest thing I have ever built. It took about 180 hours and ended up with a price tag of almost 6000 US-dollars, all the tools included. But it was worth it! The guitar became a real hit. It sounded and still sounds unique, rich in bass and boom, long sustain and balanced soft treble. A high-end sounding guitar in world-class!
Vintage is the word that describes the guitars that I make today and it forms the basis of how they are built. I have combined the best of American traditions and Swedish craftsmanship, all for the right look and sound! Each guitar become unique when I build almost everything by hand, and my goal is perfection.
Besides my Swedish customers I have now reached a market in Europe, Australia and USA. You are most welcome to send an for questions and further information. “
By Miche Archetto
Author: Robert Harris
