A small, family-run business located near Piltown, Co. Kilkenny, James Martin Instruments is having a big impact on the music industry. Recently we spoke with Marten about his vocation.

What are your own roots?
I have lived in a little village called Piltown in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland all my life and it is where my workshop is based, at my home.

When did you first become interested in playing/crafting guitars?
My father had passed away when I was very young, and it was just before his passing that I found the passion of working and crafting with wood through him. My mother then bought me my first guitar when I was 13 and this is when I took on the challenge of making the body of a guitar. I was so curious and interested how they were made, in how you can mould and carve wood in such a way that you create “a voice”.

What is the company’s history and mandate?
I was running a carpentry & construction business for about 15 years while I was still playing 3 nights a week and keeping up the interest and curiosity to succeed in building quality instruments. Just before our Celtic tiger went bust in Ireland, I found a Luthier training college and enrolled in guitar and mandolin making. After completing my Luthier training, I closed my carpentry business and turned all my training, knowledge and experience of being self-employed into my own instrument making company.

How has it evolved over time?
Over time our business has just grown, and demand has expanded. I have learned and changed many things since I first started making instruments and I’m still learning every day. You never know it all! Our instruments have improved so much over the last few years, in every way. Many mistakes were made over time and these mistakes you surely do learn from. I have made so many instruments before I became 100% satisfied with my final product. Now I have my partner and son working with me to help me to keep up with the demand.

What are your roles and responsibilities there?
Being the one who is the Luthier and the one that must answer to our customers I do and oversee everything that happens in the workshop with instruments. I do all the aspects of making the instruments from cutting the woods, bending the sides, gluing them in place, radiusing the sides, fixing the braces, tap tuning the soundboards, gluing on tops and backs, slotting fretboards, carving necks, fretting, neck fitting, bridge fitting, spraying, finishing, setting up instruments, the list goes on really! My hands will touch, feel and caress every crevasse of every single instrument, hundreds of times to make sure it is perfect. Paperwork and advertising I leave to my partner!

What are the challenges of the job?
Things going wrong. With instrument making everything has to be so precise in every way. 1mm out in a certain part could mean 10mm out in another area and the whole instrument could look skew ways. You must be so particular and precise with everything in instrument making. Wood is a living species, and it likes to move. You must be aware and have knowledge of every move you make with it and know the wood you are working with as every wood is different and has its own set of properties. There are so many challenges and nail-biting moments

What are the rewards?
Getting over the challenges above! What we really love is when a customer comes to pick up their instrument and you see the look on their face when they first see their own custom-made instrument really brings me joy. Also stringing up new instruments for the first time. When you hear the sound and tone from wood that you have crafted from start to finish with your own hands is something else.

What are your core products?
We make all acoustic stringed instruments, but our most popular instruments are our Octave Mandolin and OM Guitar. These are made from a wide variety of woods which the customer would choose themselves. Our most popular wood is Pau Ferro. It not only looks fabulous but also has very similar properties to that of Brazilian Rosewood which is an endangered species whereas the Pau Ferro is much more sustainable and not listed under CITES.

How do you differ from the competition?
Each Luthier is different and have their own styles and methods. What makes me different is I like to be able to spend time or communicate, somehow, with our customers to see exactly what they want and what they are looking for and advise them with my knowledge. Each instrument I make is completely different, each one unique. I mainly make only custom instruments but will teak them to how our customer wants them. It is my hands that is on that instrument from start to finish. I know every curve inside and out of every instrument. Also, everything I make is by hand, there’s no CNC or machined parts, apart from the hardware.  They are all fully handcrafted.

Who are your core clients and how do you reach them?
Mostly musicians, big and small, far and near. We reach them mostly through word of mouth. We started off advertising on Facebook but now it is mostly through word of mouth and previous customers recommendations.

What makes a good guitar?
Where do I start! There are so many different decisions that need to be made but the main one would be the type of wood you use. Each wood has it’s own different properties therefore each wood will produce its own unique sound. So for a start you need a good choice of top quality tone wood. Then there is bracing systems for the internal of the guitar. I normally tweak these as I go with tap toning on the soundboard until I get the sound, tone and resonance that I am happy with. There are many other things to take into consideration, but wood choice and internal structure are the most important for a great sounding guitar.

What are your future plans for the business?
Now we are just a small family run business and are delighted to be able to make a living out of it. Anything extra that comes, we would be thrilled to grow and expand with it, should it happen. We would love to have our instruments in some of the top music stores around the world. We just want to be able to leave a fantastic and exciting business to our children and to our future generations. For now, we are just going to keep getting better at what we do and promoting our brand and hopefully we can become a household name within the music industry.

jamesmartininstruments.com
@irishhandmadeguitar

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