Doug Janz - Press Tempo Writer
djanz@johnsoncitypress.com
Making a great guitar takes healthy doses of patience, analysis, musical knowledge and woodcrafting skills — someone with a nose for engineering, an ear for music and the touch of a master craftsman.
Gerald Sheppard is a Kingsport luthier and musician who brings these qualities together. A former quality control engineer at Eastman Chemical Company, he brings an organized, mathematical mindset to the instrument-building process. Since he retired from Eastman in 1993, he has built a reputation as one of the country’s finer guitar makers, selling 10 or 12 custom acoustic guitars a year for prices ranging upwards of $20,000.
His instruments are made in his basement shop and are created to fit the specific needs of each customer. Plenty of factors go into every guitar’s construction: Will the customer play the guitar on the couch at home, or set after set on stage? Are they older? Do they have arthritis, back problems, stomach problems or ergonomic issues?
People also get to choose the kinds of exotic woods used to make the instrument and can order various elegant embellishments that raise the aesthetic appeal. A finished Sheppard guitar is a sight to behold, often with fine inlaid pearl offsetting the glossy shine of deep, striking wood grain.
But the sound is what matters most to Sheppard.
“Good players can hear and feel the difference,” he said. “There’s a science of resonance, of how you want the resonance to be projected.”
“Serious guitars for serious players” is what he calls them. More...
djanz@johnsoncitypress.com
Making a great guitar takes healthy doses of patience, analysis, musical knowledge and woodcrafting skills — someone with a nose for engineering, an ear for music and the touch of a master craftsman.
Gerald Sheppard is a Kingsport luthier and musician who brings these qualities together. A former quality control engineer at Eastman Chemical Company, he brings an organized, mathematical mindset to the instrument-building process. Since he retired from Eastman in 1993, he has built a reputation as one of the country’s finer guitar makers, selling 10 or 12 custom acoustic guitars a year for prices ranging upwards of $20,000.
His instruments are made in his basement shop and are created to fit the specific needs of each customer. Plenty of factors go into every guitar’s construction: Will the customer play the guitar on the couch at home, or set after set on stage? Are they older? Do they have arthritis, back problems, stomach problems or ergonomic issues?
People also get to choose the kinds of exotic woods used to make the instrument and can order various elegant embellishments that raise the aesthetic appeal. A finished Sheppard guitar is a sight to behold, often with fine inlaid pearl offsetting the glossy shine of deep, striking wood grain.
But the sound is what matters most to Sheppard.
“Good players can hear and feel the difference,” he said. “There’s a science of resonance, of how you want the resonance to be projected.”
“Serious guitars for serious players” is what he calls them. More...
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