Guitar: An American Life

The luthier (the technical term for a guitar-maker, the title is rooted in the word “lute”) chosen by Brooks is Rick Davis, a down-to-earth but passionate craftsman whose handmade guitars are built with the utmost care and integrity. Brooks visits Davis as the guitar begins to take shape, from the selection of wood for the top (red spruce) and back (high-quality cherry), through the bending of the sides, and the cutting, gluing and bracing of the soundbox. Brooks observes and records the most arcane and creative steps in the process, such as the “voicing” of the top, in which the wood is sanded until it produces just the right tone when tapped with a knuckle. Eventually, from a few plain planks of wood emerges a work of art, a lovingly created tool that, in itself, is capable of creating its own art.

Interspersed with the story of Brooks’ own guitar is the story of the guitar in general: how it evolved from the instruments (lutes and harps) that preceded it; how it gained acceptance, in fits and starts, in Europe; how it infiltrated America via the Spanish west and the English east; how it grew with American music to become an indispensable part of the blues, country, even jazz, and, finally, rock n’ roll.

Brooks’ history of the guitar and all the musical genres it helped create is exhaustive. He covers everything from the intricate roots of the blues to the guitar’s role in the early craze surrounding Hawaiian music. The great guitarists, the instruments they played, the music they made - Brooks leaves nothing out between the earliest streetcorner blues players and the birth of heavy metal.

Brooks’ ambition to set the entire story of the guitar down on paper is a noble one. Certainly, no one can deny the significance of the guitar in the evolution of American music. The trouble is, there’s a lot of history in Brooks’ book, and at times it becomes a little tedious. It is, no question, important to understand the birth of the blues and the steel guitar and all the rest of it, but Brooks pursues it all with such uncompromising detail that the fourth or fifth time he traces a particular genre from innovation through ultimate realization, the names and places and dates become a bit numbing.

The truly charming moments in Brooks’ book, however, come in the story of his personal guitar. The instrument takes shape gradually, almost magically, and Brooks hangs back, humbled by the skill of the luthier. That is, he doesn’t speak up until he and Davis have differences of opinion about the tiny details of the guitar’s design - the decorative rosette that surrounds the sound hole, the inlaid markers on the fingerboard, the design of the headstock - and then he comes into gentle conflict with Davis as he struggles to make the guitar his own, a dream instrument that will become his new companion.

Here, too, Brooks explores the world of the luthier: the challenge of finding the right wood; the differences of opinion among makers about what constitutes the perfect guitar; the ways in which a custom-made, hand-crafted guitar is different from those produced by the major manufacturers; the individual styles and approaches that make each luthier’s instruments unique. It is a complex and fascinating story, and it encourages us to look at the ubiquitous guitar as something more than a musical prop. Brooks succeeds in explaining to those of us who are not quite like him how a mere musical instrument could be worthy of personification; it makes sense, in the end, that Brooks thinks of his guitar as a friend.

Copyright 2005 Ad Media Inc.