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"CHILD'S
PLAY" |
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~by
Simone Solondz
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(See
Joshia's Guitars) |
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[From
Acoustic Guitar, April 1999, #76. Copyright 1999 String Letter Publishing.
All rights reserved. For more information on Acoustic Guitar, contact
String Letter Publishing, PO Box 767, San Anselmo, CA 94979; (415)
485-6946; fax (415) 485-0831; www.acousticguitar.com.
Photo by Rory Earnshaw, San Francisco. (Article and photo used by
permission.)] |
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THE
FAMILY THAT SANDS TOGETHER stands together. That seems to be the philosophy
of the de Jonges of Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Four of the couple's
five children have joined the family guitar-making business. The fifth
is only five years old but is already practicing his sanding. |
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The
family's eldest child, Joshia (yo-SHEE-a), 19, also began hanging
around the shop when she was about five years old, although she didn't
build her first classical guitar until the ripe old age of 13. That
instrument came together under the careful guidance of her father,
Sergei. "My dad helped me a lot on that one," she recalls. "I didn't
cut my own sides, but I cut my own back and top." Six years and 14
guitars later, she's still learning from her father but also developing
her own personal style. At the last gathering of the Guild of American
Luthiers (GAL), where hundreds of the world's best guitar makers meet,
two of her instruments were critically acclaimed in an anonymous review.
After her nylon-string received an ovation from the crowd, Kenny Hill,
who led the forum, asked the maker to identify him or herself. The
crowd was stunned when the timid young maker stood up. |
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"It
was neat," de Jonge says. "That guitar was lattice braced. It's basically
my father's design, but it's my own shape. Me and my father and my
brother Sagan [17] work together designing them. Actually, Sagan developed
the bracing a lot." She's used lattice bracing in her last three or
four guitars and finds it far superior to fan bracing. She describes
the results as rich, loud, and structurally sound. "You don't get
ripples across the top like you do with fan bracing," she explains,
"and it's cross-bracing, so it's stronger." |
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The
classical guitar de Jonge brought to the GAL was built of ziricote
back and sides, but she usually uses Indian rosewood and either spruce
or cedar for the top. She's building half-time these days, and it
takes her about four weeks to complete a guitar. "It's two weeks for
the wood work, two weeks for lacquer time, and then a couple of days
just to finish it up," she explains. "So if I was working all the
time, I'd finish a guitar every two weeks. I don't work all year.
For the past three years I've been building for at least half the
year and traveling the other half. |
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"My
dad can build four guitars in a month," de Jonge continues, "but during
his guitar-building course he probably builds two a month." The course
is a full-time, hands-on experience--almost an apprenticeship--that
Sergei de Jonge conducts in the shop. "During the course, there are
always people around here building guitars," says the young luthier.
"Often, students who took the course stay on and help my dad in the
shop. My dad says things in class that he forgets to tell us. There's
always more to learn when you think you know it all." |
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When
the courses are not in session, the de Jonges take the opportunity
to display their guitars at festivals and to visit the shops of other
makers around the world. "We look at all the other guitars and get
ideas from them," says Joshia. She finds that her own instruments
have a special audience. "A lot of women are interested in my guitars.
At all the festivals I've sold them at, it was always women who bought
them." |
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Her
instruments are also sold at small guitar salons and by dealers who
specialize in classical guitars. They're carried by, among others,
the Guitar Salon in New York, Guitar Solo in San Francisco, Guitar
Salon International in Los Angeles, and the Rosewood in Seattle. The
base price for one of her guitars is around $3,600 U.S., which is
enough to keep her in wood and to finance her future travels. |
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Is
it possible that Joshia de Jonge has found her true calling so early
in life? "I'm enjoying it right now," she says. "It's fun. We'll see
about the future." |
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