Indian luthiers and their homegrown brands are starting a movement that could make India the go-to destination for premium guitars
Goa-based Karan Singh makes high-end acoustic guitars
For years, the best guitars in the world have come from countries like the US, Japan or Scandinavia. Gibson, Fender, and Yamaha are names even a first-time guitar enthusiast knows. These countries also had the best luthiers—for the lay person, that is a craftsperson who builds and repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. But, India, which is bang in the middle of the #vocalforlocal revolution, is slowly becoming “atmanirbhar” even where music is concerned. And, as the indie music industry grows, so have the homegrown brands. Some are high-end and premium, some are affordable, but all of them are unique and a product of the passion the luthier possesses to create a quality product in a country well known for its other string instruments, like a sitar and sarod.
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Auddie Dsouza of Cipriano Music has been making guitars for 22 years
Thirty one-year-old Vivian Varghese named his premium electric guitar brand after his daughter, Aurelia. The Trivandrum-based musician and teacher started repairing his own guitars as he couldn’t find anyone trustworthy around. YouTube came to the rescue when he wanted to learn the technique of being a luthier. “I used to make guitars at home, and it was a painstaking process. Now, I have a workshop, and am using machines, and hence, reducing labour costs. My aim is to give working musicians an affordable option, that’s as good, or even better, in terms of quality of an expensive guitar,” says Varghese, who says that he himself never owned a guitar for the first five years of his professional musical career. His guitars are made of mahogany and purple heart, wood that’s locally available in Kerala. And he is now also making his own hardware, as buying from China has got considerably harder. “My new line will also feature my hardware.
Arnab Bhattacharya’s Indische Guitars make one-of-a-kind guitars for clients
This is a versatile guitar and you can play anything from metal to jazz on it,” says Verghese, whose guitars are used by musicians such as Rex Vijayan, who plays for the popular band, Avial.
A little up north is Karan Singh, who is making guitars in Goa, under his brand Bigfoot Guitars. He started his company seven years ago, but had been messing with guitars ever since he was in college. “I had a day job at a training consultancy, but at home, I would be repairing guitars,” says the 37-year-old. Singh’s passion has led to him to travel the world to learn the art of making guitars—he has trained with legendary luthiers like Paul Doyle in Ireland, and Jason Kostal in the US. “I think the aim to go to them was not about knowing the how-to of making a guitar, but to learn how to introduce my own sound, and figure my own aesthetic.” His guitars are best suited to musicians who prefer finger-style playing, and play solos on stage. “There is clarity between notes, and the trebles in the acoustics don’t sound harsh. That’s a fair bit of a challenge to do,” says Singh, who is not looking at going into mass production, but wants to concentrate on quality. In the next few weeks, he will also launch electric guitars. “It took a bit of time to design these, as we didn’t want them to look or sound like anything that already exists.”
Vivian Vergehese wants to make affordable guitars for working musicians
His way of thinking, and dream of being one of a kind, also resonates with Arnab Bhattacharya of Indische Guitars in Kolkata. The musician who has been playing since he was a six-year-old, started the company seven years ago. “I used to work in a chemical biology firm, but am now happier, and self-employed. The risk paid off,” he tells us happily. What is unique about Indische is that every guitar is taking into consideration the client’s each and every whim. “They choose the wood, and the hardware, and even the screws. When we give them the guitar, there is a certificate that comes with it, that states that the guitar will never be replicated for anyone else. That’s the reason none of our guitars have a signature sound. They all sound different,” says the 37-year-old. Like Bhattacharya, crafting guitars has been making Auddie Dsouza of Cipriano Music happy for 22 years. The Thane-based luthier made his first guitar when he was a 17-year-old, out of wood he got from a saw mill. Ever since 2010, after he left his job as a mechanical engineer, he has been making heirloom guitars. “When you get a guitar made in a factory, it’s made by a line professionals. No one knows what the last guy did. Here, we know the thickness of each piece of wood as well. Wood ages beautifully, and my guitars will get better as they get older. You can give them to your grandkids.”
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