The Dunster Museum has been putting on a series of visitations to the studios and workshops of creative people living in the Robson Valley. Yesterday was the third of such visits; this time it was to the workshop of Larry Stamm, a luthier (a maker of stringed instruments). I have found each visit extremely interesting and like the others, I was left astounded at the talent that lives in our remote and sparsely populated valley.
Larry has been handcrafting beautiful instruments for decades, and I was amazed at all of the different types of instruments he has created: Guitars, mandolins, violins, ukuleles, and hybrid instruments that I have never heard of (banjo/mandolins, viola/mandolins, and instruments of other combinations). Larry custom-makes instruments for people and also repairs broken instruments.
He uses beautiful local and exotic woods to create his instruments and has a stockpile of woods for further creations. It was incredible to see and feel the very thin pieces of wood that he had made to be used in constructing the tops and bottoms of instruments, and of course some will be bent for the sides and arched tops.
While Larry has some power tools, most of his time in creating instruments is done with hand tools. He showed off some of his hand planes, one of which he had made himself that was only about 3 inches long which he uses for careful fine work.
I was impressed with the beauty, the sound, and neck-action of the mandolin that was passed around during Larry’s presentation. Larry is certainly an accomplished luthier and it was enlightening to see how he goes about making his fine instruments.
In the photo below Larry explains his current project. He is making a unique instrument for a customer. It will have the neck of a five-string banjo, with the body of an enlarged mandolin. You might be able to make out the shape of it drawn out on the paper.
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