Today’s speaker was Probus member Gavin Alexander who’s talk was called What I did in lockdown, it turned out that he turned his hand to making electric guitars, 5 or 6 of them were displayed for us to view.
He explained that a Luthier is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments such as violins or guitars.
Gavin started by playing a track by the Shadows which he heard at a café in Hornsey when he was 10years old and made a big impression on him, he tried to learn to play guitar but after 3 attempts found it wasn’t for him but ended up making them years later.
His son James did take the guitar up and showed us a Fender guitar made by Gavin and explained how the sound is made with 5 different settings on the guitar.
Ash is one of the main woods used in making the body of a guitar with Maple for the neck. One of the guitars Gavin showed us was made from an old mahogany table. Gavin’s back ground in teaching woodwork and metalwork was evident in these beautiful musical instruments. Gavins son James had brought the band that he plays with “ Fishing for Compliments” to entertain us and they played for 30mins with a selection of original songs and finished with a great version of Dolly Parton’s Jolene.
Gavin’s friend Paul MacStrafick who is a good guitarist said he was so impressed the first time he played one of Gavins guitars, It looked and sounded beautiful. He is definitely a highly skilled Luthier.