30/07/2009

Dave King: New models from the master instrument maker

Dave King has been making guitars for over 20 years. At the age of nine he saw a picture of a parlour guitar on the cover of a Bert Jansch album and fell in love with them. Since that time Dave has designed and built not only "parlours" but also a wide range of guitars of exceptional quality.

Recently, Dave has probably been known more for his Signature Models; each one a unique and highly desirable creation. However, now he's introducing several new models to his range based on some timeless designs.

The Louise is a parlour-size guitar, based on a late Nineteenth Century design. The Katrina a 000-size guitar, based on a 1930s design and The Matilda a dreadnought-size guitar. All models have a variety of options including - 6 string and 12 string, left or right handed and numerous tonewood combinations.

For full details see Dave's site. In the meantime here's a recent chat we had.

How has the development of the new models been?

Well, I do a lot of restoration work on guitars from 1878 onwards. Then, lately I've worked on a lot of Martins from the 20's, 30's, and 40's and fallen in love with them. It's the reason I've started making these, they're constructed using the same techniques from that time, I think it's the golden era of guitar making.

Your own high-end models. Are you able to still source the quality of materials you need? I'm talking about the hardware as well as the wood.

Yes, it's all available at a price. The tuners are made in England actually, by David Rogers, but they start at around £600. You get what you pay for. Brazilian rosewood, all these timbers are still there, they just cost twice as much as they did two or three years ago and considerably more than when I first started out.

Since you started there seems to be another new wave of British builder doesn't there?

Yes, the standard of guitar building I'm very impressed with, it's gone up and up for the last ten years. I think it's absolutely fantastic, the more competition the better. There's a few new builders here I've never seen before, turning out some great work and we're all slowly catching up with the Americans regarding standards of work. However, what seems to happen is, as the likes of Alister Atkin or myself get closer to them, they push the boundaries more. So, sometimes we seem to be a little bit behind, but we're getting there.

I've been talking to other builders about the new CNC technology they have invested in. Do you use anything in the department?

It's a sore point. I don't use any CNC machinery and never will use any. I feel it can take all the character out of an instrument and end up producing a bland sounding guitar.

So, when you talk about raising your standards you are looking at your hands on skills are you?

Absolutely, you are looking at the finish of the instrument and the quality of the work inside. That isn't really down to a CNC router, that's down to the person putting the guitar together.

With a CNC router you are just machining any piece of timber to a given shape. But using traditional guitar making techniques that piece of wood may splinter or shatter before you get it to a finished stage; so by then you know it's time to throw it away. With a CNC machine you can put anything in it and it will produce whatever you tell it to. So, I'm not going to go down that road.

There's a healthy geographical spread of the builders in the UK. Do you think people tend to shop locally?

No, I seem people from all over the country. Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, it depends on how much you are going to spend. For some of my expensive models people will generally travel from wherever they are. But I'm yet to see what happens with the cheaper instruments. I do have a shop in London and with the new dealers on board I'm going to be covering quite a bit of area.

It's going to be an interesting few years for you.

Yes, its the first time people have seen these new models and I've got a fantastic response, it's been a good show. I'm hoping people will see a lot more of them.

www.daveking-acoustics.com/

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