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estebanana -> RE: The passing of Eugene Clark (Dec. 18 2016 16:07:48)
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quote:
I had not heard of Eugene Clark before you mentioned his passing. Nevertheless, I'm sorry to hear it, particularly as you say he had some influence on you.
I looked him up among luthiers, however, and in several bios he is described as an "old school Spanish guitar maker." What does that mean, particularly with reference to Mr. Clark? How is "old school" different from other luthiers? Better craftsmanship? More attention to detail?
Thanks in advance.
Bill
Bill,
Not sure what old school means or what context they are using in. Gene made guitars and taught the way guitars are made in Spain. His depth of knowledge centered on the Madrid and Andalucia schools of thought on guitar making. I would call it tradition or straight ahead guitar making, all of it the foundation of anything that is a later variation.
He was also of his own time and worked with ideas like the bracing themes of Bouchet and others. He drew the line at ideas like elevated finger boards and the Smallman concept of lattice bracing. None of it really interested him, although he had the technical prowess and curiosity to have made any kind of guitar he wished. His love was for flamenco guitars above all, and that format was set a long time ago. It this respect he's not that unusual, many current builders are not interested in double tops, lattice bracing etc.but I see a traditionalists outlook "old school" in either a positive or pejorative way.
Eugene began in the late fifties and by the 1960-62 had learned enough to begin doing repair work on Spanish guitars that were coming to the Bay Area direct from Spain when players would bring them back to the US. Right from the start he was hands on with guitars by Barbero, Domingo Esteso, Santos, de la Chica etc and this made a big impression on him. He saw this Spanish work early on while guitars by those makers were still in circulation as working instruments. He drew his own plans from them and copied, and worked as much as possible to make guitars like these important makers' works.
His story is quite long, he lived in NYC for a while building and servicing guitars in that scene. He took his drawings and ideas, taught an passed on methods. He was known as "Clean Gene" or "Gene the Dean" because his work was so tight and well crafted. He influenced many makers and was admired by the the likes of Michael Guirian and Thomas Humphrey. He really never got enough credit for how high he set the bar for high level work in that NYC scene or for how much his level of craft was aspired to. Thomas Humphrey told Gene some years later when the met again the reason he was able to make it in NY was because Gene left town ans moved back to CA. Probably a jest, but with a some truth in it.
His work has an uncanny and unusual sense of proportion, grace in line and beautiful ratio, all the while being firmly rooted in Spanish work. Antonio Marin the Granada maker saw a guitar of Gene's and send back a message via the American owner the guitar- As good as it gets. Spanish.
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