Nazareth Guitar Institute

(guitar music) - The building I'm in was originally a Methodist church built in early 1900's, and was a church up until 1969, and then was turned into a guitar shop.

Just has a great presence with it, and been filled with music for many, many years.

(guitar music) I started making my guitars in 1979.

I built my first guitar in the basement here.

The archtop guitar is actually an American designed and built guitar by Orville Gibson in the late 1800's.

So, it's an early instrument compared to some other ones.

The guitar is my favorite instrument, 'cause, you know, I grew up in the 60's, early 70's, and, you know, wanted to be a rockstar, you know, so I started playing.

I'd met these guys that worked at Martin Guitar and had their little shops in the basement, and it really intrigued me to be able to build one.

So that's, you know, that's why I turned to building, 'cause I, you know, ended up enjoying that more than playing, 'cause, you know, playing is a, you know, a field that's, it's not an easy gig.

(laughing) An archtop guitar is made similar to a violin and cello.

It starts out with, you know, very thick wood.

This maple is tiger flame maple.

Comes from the Alps.

Grows at a certain height, same area Stradivarius wood came from.

Guitar sides are, you know, cut to a certain size, certain shape, and certain thickness.

They're bent downstairs in a steaming iron, and then put into this mold, and then they dry overnight.

After they're done, the kerfing is put on.

This is called kerfing, or guitar lining, with side braces, and then the back is glued on, and this is the inside of one of our non-cutaway archtops.

- My dad, Dale Unger, was a guitar builder, a luthier.

So when I was a little kid, there was always guitars laying around the house, so I always kind of picked them up, and when I got of age, they put me in taking guitar lessons, and kind of fell in love with playing guitar, and always had the dream, also, like my dad, to kind of become a rockstar.

As I kind of got older, I kind of decided to not travel so much playing, and kind of got more into the building side of things.

But then in the building world, you kind of get the niche to kind of build something a little bit more pure, if you will, which is sort of an acoustic guitar, whether it's a flat top or an archtop, there's something magical about taking a piece of wood.

So the fact that you can just sit on a couch and make music, and have nothing else plugged in, no electric needed, and kind of bring something to life.

Electric guitars are amazing to build, really cool, but there's also simplistic beauty about an acoustic guitar when you can put it together, and make something sing naturally.

(guitar music) Just really fell in love with taking a piece of wood, and kind of constructing a tool, which is an instrument.

And it's amazing the first time you string something up to kind of hear that sound.

And it's almost even cooler when you build something, and put your kind of blood, sweat, and tears into this instrument, and then give it to somebody else.

And then it's a really cool experience to basically go from a tree to a guitar, and turn something into a tool that somebody else can use.

(guitar music) - My son and I, we also do Nazareth Guitar Institute here, which we bring people from all over the world to learn how to build instruments, from week classes to three-day classes, and it's been a great inspiration to me and my son.

We love the teaching of it, you know, and met so many great people from around the world.

My grandfather was a woodworker and cabinet maker, so I was always intrigued by the hands-on woodworking.

That's kind of the passion I have been, and to this day, it's still a passion and love.

Never been a job since I started doing it, though.

I really enjoy it.

(guitar music)