How the Community Build began..

Put two luthiers together and they will start talking shop.If you put them together in a workshop and give them some wood they will start building...

On the occasion of our 2017 Symposium in Vienna (June 23 - 25) the EGB  started a collective guitar building project between builders and musicians.

Together the participating luthiers will make three instruments, an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar and a bass. The process has started in Vienna, and the instruments will then travel through Europe, moving from luthier to luthier through the various stages of completion. The goal is to present the finished instruments at The Holy Grail Guitar Show 2018 in Berlin with special performances.

The purpose

For the luthiers: Making guitars is a very individualistic occupation, and sometimes a lonely one. This project aims to foster a network of collaboration, knowledge sharing and community building among our members. Working together on a guitar-building project is a huge learning experience for all concerned: How do other luthiers do what you do? Can you work on one instrument together with other luthiers? What kind of instrument will come out of this?

For the our musicians: One of the things we have noticed over the past years is that there is a growing number of female players, which seem to not be very well-represented and visible in the business. As builders most of our clients are male, and the craft is also male dominated, as much of the music scene is. We would like to change that - and invite more female players and builders to become part of the community - hence our invitation to three female players for this project.

For the public: We would like to present the process behind the creation of a guitar, from concept to performance, to a larger audience and familiarize them with hand-made, custom instruments. It will show how together with the musicians by listening to their needs and wishes luthiers are working out the best possible instrument.

In addition, viewers can tour through various workshops all over Europe and meet the makers as they work. The projects will be documented and continuously presented  to the public on the website and through other media outlets, like the Facebook Community page, where you can follow the process of the projects.

The Youth Project

The EGB youth build project is a practical brain storming, an on-going refining of a concept geared towards developing a kit guitar for children and teenagers.