In 1988, I began repairing, restoring, and building acoustic guitars. Fifteen years as a mechanical designer served me well as I made the transition to become a luthier. The initial phase of this journey was spent repairing hundreds of guitars. I learned that a great deal of tone and playability could be gained if a guitar just had a proper neck angle and set-up. Replacing nuts and saddles with bone material and intonating the saddle made a huge difference alone. Many of my clients brought me brand new guitars just to get these modifications. I think reading textbooks and trade publications are great learning tools in any endeavor, but it was my repair experience that helped forge my career as a guitar builder. I also restored several vintage pre-war Martin and Gibson guitars. I still have the notes, drawings, and photos of those fabulous instruments. I invested hundreds of hours analyzing and restoring them because I wanted to find out why they sounded so good. This experience helped me formulate a correlation between design and tone. With over sixty years of use and abuse these designs proved the test of time. Especially when you consider that these instruments endured many of those years under the tension of heavy gauge strings. For the last ten years, I’ve focused building traditional models of vintage guitars. My attention to detail led me to use Adirondack red spruce for brace wood and guitar tops. Almost all Martin and Gibson instruments built before 1945 used this wood in the construction of their guitars. The results of using this wood have proven so successful that I now use it on almost everything I build. It has recently found favor by other builders as well. Randy Lucas.
I've known Randy for a number of years and have always loved his instruments. His experience as a top notch repairman gives him wonderful insight with which to design and build his guitars. His new models feature advanced design elements such as the wedge body shape which makes them quite special. His voice is powerful and majestic and you won't find better playability anywhere…
Builder Hometown:
Columbus, IN
Artists who play these instruments:
Kenny Smith, Mindy Smith
In 1988, I began repairing, restoring, and building acoustic guitars. Fifteen years as a mechanical designer served me well as I made the transition to become a luthier. The initial phase of this journey was spent repairing hundreds of guitars. I learned that a great deal of tone and playability could be gained if a guitar just had a proper neck angle and set-up. Replacing nuts and saddles with bone material and intonating the saddle made a huge difference alone. Many of my clients brought me brand new guitars just to get these modifications. I think reading textbooks and trade publications are great learning tools in any endeavor, but it was my repair experience that helped forge my career as a guitar builder. I also restored several vintage pre-war Martin and Gibson guitars. I still have the notes, drawings, and photos of those fabulous instruments. I invested hundreds of hours analyzing and restoring them because I wanted to find out why they sounded so good. This experience helped me formulate a correlation between design and tone. With over sixty years of use and abuse these designs proved the test of time. Especially when you consider that these instruments endured many of those years under the tension of heavy gauge strings. For the last ten years, I’ve focused building traditional models of vintage guitars. My attention to detail led me to use Adirondack red spruce for brace wood and guitar tops. Almost all Martin and Gibson instruments built before 1945 used this wood in the construction of their guitars. The results of using this wood have proven so successful that I now use it on almost everything I build. It has recently found favor by other builders as well. Randy Lucas.
I've known Randy for a number of years and have always loved his instruments. His experience as a top notch repairman gives him wonderful insight with which to design and build his guitars. His new models feature advanced design elements such as the wedge body shape which makes them quite special. His voice is powerful and majestic and you won't find better playability anywhere…