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Article about me in newspaper.

bjorn-fjord

By bjorn-fjord
in Acoustic Guitars

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bjorn-fjord Newbie

bjorn-fjord

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Hey, I got some ink!

Our local newspaper ran a story on yours truly. They only misquoted me about 10 times but all in all I'm happy with the story.

Freeman, you may be interested to know that about half of the interview involved me criticizing the forest industry and saying we need to stop clear-cutting old-growth regions. Yet, not one mention of this made it in the article. They even made up a quote that made it sound like I wished I was a lumberjack ! Oh well...

 

 

 

He's the real Guitar Hero

Hillside-area luthier turns slabs of wood into rich-sounding musical instruments

Darron Kloster, Times Colonist

Published: Saturday, March 29, 2008+

 

Everyone is a Guitar Hero these days.

 

But Dylan Rovere is the real thing.

 

The 36-year-old luthier crafts the instruments from scratch and by hand, with some taking 200 hours to bring from slabs of wood to musical life.

 

 

With his guitars starting at $4,000 and local and national players more than willing to buy something unique and sounding so rich, Rovere has managed to make guitar building a full-time job for the past four years.

 

"It seems like such an honest living to me," Rovere said in an interview from his tidy workshop behind his home in the Hillside area, where he lives with wife Jennifer and their two-year-old daughter.

 

"It's really about focus ... and you also need to like being alone," smiles Rovere. "But it's very spiritual work. I mean it's an honour to be able to work on a 1,000-year-old piece of wood and turn it into something of value and enjoyment for someone."

 

Rovere gains inspiration from an Elizabethan-era quote carved on an old lute, which, loosely translated from Llatin, says, "In life I was silent. In death I sweetly sing."

 

The bulk of his work is in custom orders, usually professional musicians or recreational players with increasing discretionary income to replace their 'beach' guitars. But several retail outlets also carry Rovere guitars, including Old Town Strings, Classic Guitars and Guitars Plus in Victoria, and Rufus Guitars in Vancouver.

 

"The real satisfaction of what I do is having someone come in and be part of the design and watch it being built," said Rovere. "They're part of the process."

 

Prices on Rovere Guitars are set by the retailers, he said.

 

Born in Nanaimo to two generations of loggers, Rovere (which is Italian for oak), first picked up a guitar at age 14. It was a cheap, Japanese-made acoustic with a garbage bag for case and he spent hours banging out Steve Ray Vaughn songs and, later, blues numbers by Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell.

 

Rovere took a year of college but was floundering on a choice of career until he attended the Vancouver exhibition one summer and saw a exhibition of hand-made guitars and learned of a musical instrument repair and building course at Douglas College. His teacher there, Michael Dunn, was a major influence and taught Rovere traditional Spanish methods of guitar building.

 

He spent a year learning the craft before going to work to Larrivee Guitars in Vancouver for two years until 1993. Rovere started his own guitar production on the side, but worked as a roofer, cabinet maker and technical rep for a U.S. steel maker to make ends meet. Four years ago, with his garage remodelled to a workshop and all the tools collected, Rovere starting supporting his family with his labour of love.

 

Rovere admits to being "a wood geek," saying he 's been known to root through waste piles, firewood stacks and downed trees looking for valuable pieces.

 

Among the most valued is Sitka spruce, the lightweight softwood that Rovere says makes the best "hearts" or soundboards for his guitars. Sitka was also used in the airline industry for aircraft frames because it has the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any softwood -- the same principals that make guitars light and durable.

 

"I would have been third generation in the woods if there was any work out there, but I'm still working with wood," he said.

 

Most of his stock is purchased from specialty wood companies and boatbuilders. He also uses a variety of hardwoods such as mahogany, rosewood, ebony and koa, which is native to Hawaii and the inspiration behind one of his latest guitars, a resonator.

 

The body is made entirely of koa, overlaid with a steel top, and he's carved out palm trees on the soundboard and inlaid mother-of-pearl shells into the neck in the shape of Hawaiian flowers. It will likely be sold to retailers for $6,000, he said.

 

Other instruments show Rovere's attention to fine detail, including inlays of shells and rice-sized pieces of African ebony and maple from Nanaimo. "It requires an infinite amount of patience," says Rovere. "You have to focus for hours and hours ... and not lose your mind."

 

But he says there is nothing he would rather do.

 

"I consider myself pretty lucky to be able to do this," he said. "The enjoyable part is seeing how satisfied people are with your work, but it's also about being close to home. I've been able to watch my daughter grow up."

 

Click www.rovereguitars.com

 

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=15e3f6d6-54ad-41a2-bb3a-df1a2bc17a39&k=49718&p=2

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bjorn-fjord Newbie

bjorn-fjord

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Thanks everybody! The photos of the new batch will be on the site in a week or so.

 

The name is pronounced "roe-vair." But in Italy it is "roe-vair-ay". That's a little too much to ask of english speaking people. I correct people on the pronunciation of the anglicized version enough as it is. :thu:

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riffmeister Newbie

riffmeister

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Dylan, congratulations! That's very cool!

 

What you said about the newspaper misquoting you reminded me of the recent debacle with US luthier Richard Brune. Brune wrote an article on Hauser guitars for Acoustic Guitar Magazine which was published in January. Well, apparently the editors at AGM modified his article in several ways and Brune is now attempting to sue the magazine. He alledges that they skewed his words to emphasize Ramirez guitars because the magazine runs ads from the US importer of ramirez guitars and that they made his words on the history of Hauser guitars sound less scholarly and less accurate which will make Brune's appraisal business suffer.

 

I trust you were not so p.o.'d! :)

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Freeman Keller Apprentice

Freeman Keller

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Dylan, it is about time. Your work is simply stunning and many of us appreciate having our "resident luthier" on the forum. And as you know, many of us also appreciate your work on the issues of foresty and logging practices - I'm sorry your newspaper chose not to include that.

 

I know you don't want to spam on the forum, but I think lot of us would like to see your site addy in your sig - you have every reason to be very proud of what you do.

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