Për Courtney shows off a guitar in his Greensboro Bend woodworking shop. His trademark inlaid pear can be seen on the fret board on the instrument’s neck. Photo by Joseph Gresser
GREENSBORO BEND — Guitar heroes need heroic guitars, and a Greensboro Bend man thinks he’s just the craftsman to supply them. In his shop on the Bend Road just off Route 16, Për Courtney builds instruments that combine classic shapes, wild colors and innovative electronics in a way that is attracting the attention of leading rockers.
Mr. Courtney’s instrument business, Për Guitars, is a relatively new enterprise for the craftsman, who also makes fine furniture and silver jewelry. But it is already beginning to make some noise in the music world.
Taking time from showing a steady stream of visitors around his shop during Open Studio Weekend, on Memorial Day weekend in May, Mr. Courtney showed off some of his creations and explained what makes them special.
The first thing a visitor notes, looking at the glass-front cabinet that holds about a half dozen guitars, is their bright colors. Mr. Courtney said he gets help picking attractive combinations from his wife and friends. “I’m color blind,” he admitted.
The schemes range from reds and yellows that just might be associated with wood tones, to an electric green that is just a bit too vivid to be natural. Looking closely at each instrument, the observer can see through the transparent color to admire the grain of the wood.
Mr. Courtney said he colors his instruments with transparent analine dye and then lays on 14 coats of water-based lacquer. A 12-step rub-out
Për Courtney shaves little bits of wood off a guitar he’s making during Open Studio Weekend, Memorial Day weekend. Photo by Jennifer Hersey Cleveland
process gives the instrument its deep polish, he said.
In addition to the variety of colors, Mr. Courtney’s guitars display a range of shapes. The body of one model resembles a Fender Stratocaster, the classic rock guitar. Unlike the original, which has a neck that is pliable enough to allow a player to bend notes by pushing it forward, Mr. Courtney’s model has a stout neck, with a rosewood fret board.
The guitar’s neck, like all made by Mr. Courtney, is emblazoned with his signature just above the tuning pegs. A small pear, a pun on Mr. Courtney’s first name — which is pronounced like the fruit — is inlaid on the fret board.
Another instrument has the shape of a Les Paul guitar, but is a solid-body instrument, unlike its hollow-bodied inspiration.
Mr. Courtney says he creates each of his guitars with a particular playing style in mind. It helps that he is a longtime player, he said.
Building guitars without knowing how to play seems absurd, Mr. Courtney said. “I think it would be like repairing cars if you couldn’t drive.”
Mr. Courtney’s knowledge also led him to rethink the electronics that make the guitar an electric guitar.
Knowing that some people like a clean tone, Mr. Courtney provides each guitar with a humbucker pickup. The humbucker does what its name implies, cuts out the 60-cycle hum produced by household current. Some guitarists, though, like a grittier sound, and for them, Mr. Courtney has added a pickup that does not filter out the hum. Other guitars have both kinds of pickups with a switch that allows a player to choose between the two sounds.
Mr. Courtney’s innovation is to include a knob that permits the player to balance the two types of pickup to her personal preference.
Për Courtney shows off a guitar in his Greensboro Bend woodworking shop. His trademark inlaid pear can be seen on the fret board on the instrument’s neck. Photo by Joseph Gresser
The volume and adjustment knobs also show Mr. Courtney’s attention to detail. The cluster of knobs is set into a flattened portion of the guitar’s face. Mr. Courtney explained he mounts them in that way so the player’s hand touches perpendicular surfaces, for easier control.
For some players such details are not enough, and Mr. Courtney is willing to accommodate even the most picky tastes. Davy Knowles, lead guitarist for the up-and-coming Manx band Back Door Slam, already owns one of Mr. Courtney’s guitars. Mr. Courtney said he plans to make a trip to Greensboro Bend during his U.S. tour.
Mr. Knowles, Mr. Courtney said, likes to have the control knobs a few fractions of an inch closer to the strings so he can make adjustments without having to move his hand. Mr. Knowles feels that such movement disturbs his concentration. Mr. Courtney said he is very willing to work with Mr. Knowles, although he admits that he could detect no lapse in Mr. Knowles concentration when he heard him play his Për Guitar.
Mr. Courtney came to his current passion through a love for wood and woodworking that began in his early years. “I started woodworking in earnest in sixth grade,” Mr. Courtney recalled.
He got his first taste of the craft in his grade school shop class. By seventh grade Mr. Courtney was advanced enough to teach the younger students, earning his tuition for the private preparatory school in the process.
“I love to teach people new things,” Mr. Courtney declared.
By tenth grade Mr. Courtney realized that his path wasn’t going to lead him to college, and he transferred to a trade school to “learn a little more of the fine points.”
After graduation Mr. Courtney began restoring antique furniture for a restoration company.
A two-year stint with a cabinet company taught Mr. Courtney how to build kitchen cabinets. The business had two employees, the owner’s son and Mr. Courtney. Together the pair built two sets of cabinets every week for two years, a total of 200 kitchen cabinets.
Mr. Courtney then decided he needed to go out on his own, but set himself a test before starting a business.
“The thing I needed to do to prove I could run my own business was to build a house all by myself, from framing to finish. I happened to have a sister who needed a house. I built her a house in Maine. I spent a year building her house and then started my own business in 1989.”
New Wing Designs, Mr. Courtney’s furniture business, was started in Massachusetts and moved to Greensboro Bend in 2000. Mr. Courtney still does reproduction work and builds cabinets, but he is looking to concentrate more on guitars in the future.
To relax, Mr. Courtney turns his attention to another, inorganic material. Under the name Silver Wing Designs he makes fine silver jewelry.
