The Montréal Guitar show



Last Saturday I went to the Jazz festival in Montréal and we stopped by the Salon de Guitare de Montréal at the Hyatt.  You see my boy friend is an artist at heart; he plays the drum, the piano, the accordéon and most importantly the guitar.  Therefore we could not miss going to the Salon.  I brought my camera along knowing I would get good photo opportunities as well as interesting stories.  Chris was interested in the sound that they make; I was interested in what they look like.  Here is a few of my favorites.



Butterfly inlay



These two are from a luthier in North Carolina; he makes everything by hand with beautiful inlays.  Here are two examples of his work. They are both electric guitars with detailed heads. The one that looks like someone has dropped paint on it is actually inlayed with ebony.

Paint splash inlay



Metal guitar

 This guy from LA makes his unique guitars using metal.  The one that I liked had a paisley motif on its body.  I which I knew how he managed to do that.  Wonder how they sound!  They are probably good to play heavy metal music!

This next guy is amazing, he is from Austria but lived in LA for a long time before he moved back home.  I spoke to his wife which is American. She told me that he uses a special resin on top of the wood to embed things in the body.  She told me he collects nick-knack from the beach, thrift shops, pieces of glass he finds.  He even made one with prozac pills.  Each one is like a work of art.  It usually takes a least three months to build and that is working on it full time.



Like a jewel



The Circle of Buddhas

 

The white sisters

These two I just found funny, sitting there together as white as can be.

 



I have a thing for blue guitars.  There were a few at the show.  Here are two of them.

 

Blue acoustic

   

Blue electric

And for the finale, my favorite one.  Its color caught my eye when we entered the room; an amazing shade of red.  When we talked to the maker he said that his guitars have been exposed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, that he makes very few of them each year.  He is located one hour North of San Francisco and invited us to visit his atelier next time we go to California.  When we asked the price, to no surprise to me, it was the most expensive one we asked about (I have a talent with liking the most expensive stuff). 

Red wing


I love its winged design, it's flowing, the sound hole is in a unusual position but that makes it more special. If I remember correctly it is made of 4 or 5 different kind of wood and as luck would have it, it is sold.



Red wing



I don't think my pictures give it justice but it looks wonderful.  It is the one featured in the Salon's catalogue.

We managed to leave without buying anything.  My boyfriend went back the next day to try out more of the guitars.  I was sure he would bring one home but he only bought CDs.  Go figure.

If you have questions on some of them, let me know and I will try to give you an answer.

I promise the next post will not be about guitars.