Guitar builder hears echoes of area's past

SANDPOINT — Tucked away in one corner of an historic Sandpoint granary building is an old, wooden door. Step through it, and you are vaulted back into, not one, but two important chapters of the city’s history.

The first stage carries you into the dimly lit re-cesses of the grain elevator, where floor joists groan underfoot and weak shafts of light flirt with the forgotten contours of equipment that once shuttled the stored harvest from the storage tower to waiting train cars outside.

Stage two of this historical journey waits deeper inside, behind a second door that only becomes visible when your eyes grow accustomed to the dark expanse of the room. A radio playing faintly in the background pulls you in that direction. Cross the threshold and you discover a work bench lined with guitar parts — bodies, necks, fretboards, backs and sides — in various phases of completion.

This unassuming environment is the home of Joel Keefe Shoemaker Instrument Works. And it is an echo of a short-lived but colorful chapter that took place about 35 years ago, at a time when a community of luthiers set their hands to building guitars, mandolins and mountain dulcimers from a Sandpoint base.

Today, the instruments they built and sold for less than $1,000 back then regularly fetch $10,000 and more from collectors who have come to appreciate the adept craftsmanship that brought them to life. The young man who now works out of this granary woodshop is, in a way, a direct descendant of those earlier builders.

The strand of musical DNA that connects him to them is a guitar Shoemaker found in parts and completed on his own — a replica of the prized Martin Co. “orchestra model” guitar that once again found acclaim when a luthier named Nick Kukich began building them under the name Franklin Guitars. Shoemaker contacted Kukich and received not only permission, but also enthusiastic support for finishing the parts that were left behind when the builder left Sandpoint in the 1980s.

“Thirty years ago, Sandpoint was the place to go if you were an acoustic instrument player,” Shoemaker said, describing a time before he was born. “You had builders like Bob Givens and Nick Kukich and they were good.

“Sandpoint used to be known for its instrument builders,” he went on. “There’s no reason it couldn’t be known for that again.”

Particularly since Shoemaker is part of a crop of new, young luthiers that also includes hand-made guitar builder Vance Bergeson and a pair of brothers named Anthony and David Powell, who build acoustic guitars, mandolins, harp mandolins, and harp guitars out of their local shop.

After first experimenting with a couple of electric guitars starting in 2000, Shoemaker fell in love with the idea of building acoustics.

“Basically, what it came down to was that I wanted a really nice guitar but couldn’t afford to buy it,” he said. “So I built it.”

Building began as an “after-hours hobby,” resulting in only about one guitar a year making it to completion. This past spring, Shoemaker jumped into building in earnest — a trend that gained momentum throughout last fall and into this winter. He currently has a total of four guitars in process, one of which was finished in the past two weeks, with others ready to move off the bench in close succession.

The instruments take inspiration from the renowned orchestra model guitars, with subtle changes introduced by the builder. The body is still smaller than the ubiquitous “dreadnaught” style guitars that are popular among bluegrass and country pickers, but the sides are slightly deeper than a traditional “OM,” allowing for a seamless crossover of playing styles.

“An OM that’s done right can be the most versatile, best-sounding guitar out there,” the builder said. “It can be a shimmering finger-style guitar and then turn around and out-flatpick a dreadnaught.

“But I didn’t want to build a carbon copy,” he added, “so what I build is essentially an OM with slightly wider bouts.”

As he ramps up production, Shoemaker has discovered that doing things such as hand-carving each bridge from scratch or cutting fret slots on fingerboards using a ruler for measurement is simply too work-intensive. In response, he has started to create jigs for the different guitar parts, removing hours from the process and improving the overall consistency of the finished instruments.

“It’s a fine line between innovation and tradition,” the builder explained, adding that he now includes modern features such as bolt-on necks and lacquer finishes to guitars that still bear the look and feel of the classics beauties that first stirred his interest. “I like traditional aesthetics, but at the same time, I’m bowing a little bit to modern techniques.”

The “tone woods” Shoemaker favors for his instruments have come more from necessity than invention, with Sitka spruce for the tops and East Indian rosewood, sapele and bubinga wood for sides and backs.

“Right now, I’m using what I can get,” he said. “I’m trying to stay as minimalist as I can.”

As this second wave of luthiers takes root in Sandpoint, Shoemaker welcomes the idea that the town could once again be known as a haven for builders and those who appreciate fine, hand-made instruments. To that end, he keeps working to complete instruments that will act as stepping stones toward that goal.

“Each one gets a little faster and each one is better than the last,” he said. “I’ll even be a little hippie-dippy about it and say that each one has a personality.

“We use the same language with instruments as we do with people,” he went on. “We talk about how they have a life span, how they mature and find their voice. Building a musical instrument is as close to building a living thing as you can get.”

For more information on Joel Keefe Shoemaker Instrument Works call (208) 597-0295 or email: joelkeefe@gmail.com.