Name: Butch Boswell
Pencil hand: Right
Brand: Boswell Guitar
Craft: Luthier/Guitar Maker
Location: Bend, OR
“The failures, combined with sprinklings of success, are what drives all of us. And the failures shouldn’t ever define the life we’re trying to design and build for ourselves and our families.”
THE PROCESS
How did you get started?
When I was a young kid, about 11 or 12 years old, I just became fascinated with guitars. It was around the time MTV Unplugged started and I just fell in love with guitar music. Any new town that I visited, I would immediately go into the closest guitar shop. Then naturally, I began working in guitar shops. Fast forward to my college years living in San Luis Obispo, I started working at a guitar shop called Blue Note Guitars doing repair work. After a few years, an opportunity presented itself for me to work at a famous guitar shop in New York City called Rudy’s Music. I went on to run his repair shop for a few years, repairing some of the more valuable vintage guitars and I thought to myself, “what was stopping me from opening my own shop?” So, I moved back to San Luis Obispo and opened “Butch’s Guitar and Repair.” I ran that shop for about 11 years before moving to Bend, Oregon.
How did you transition from repairing to building guitars?
What inspires you and what philosophies inform your work?
On the inside of my guitars, there’s a slogan that reads, “Old world craftsmanship, modern-day precision.” I like to take the classic designs and historical aspects from the “golden age” of guitar building during the 1930s and 40s and meld them with the more technical and precise manufacturing that I’ve learned throughout the years. I find that combining those two elements brings out the best of both worlds. What inspires me daily is seeing the dozens of other immensely talented guitar builders on social media. Other builders attempting to do similarly what I am attempting to do comforts me. We’re all trying to make incredible instruments by hand. It’s not easy work, and not everyone will be able to make a career of it. But, at the end of the day, being inspired to make something that ends up being a tool of inspiration for others, is a pretty amazing thing.
What is a quote or idea or piece of work that inspires you/drives your creativity?
“All are architects of fate” is a quote from a Wadsworth Longfellow poem in a book that was given to me shortly after high school. It’s stuck with me all this time. For me, it means that we all control what we make of our lives. I don’t believe this to be true for everyone. In fact, the old notion of “work hard, and you’ll do fine” is just too outdated, especially by today’s measure of social and financial inequality. More artists and creatives are going to fail than succeed. But, that’s what fuels us in the end. The failures, combined with sprinklings of success, are what drives all of us. And the failures shouldn’t ever define the life we’re trying to design and build for ourselves and our families.
What are some things that you find quintessential to your creative process?
A few shots of espresso. I just find so much inspiration in my shop, most of the time I just step in and begin to work. However, there are certain aspects of the process that are more delicate and precise so I take a little bit of time to drink my coffee, maybe do a little writing just to get into the right headspace to tackle a specific task.
How did you find out about Blackwing?
I’ve always been an absolute tool junkie — hand planes, chisels, etc. so I remember the exact moment. I was always into stationery growing up, mostly writing and marking tools. So, I was looking in Levenger Magazine and saw a starter kit for Blackwing. I read the description and just thought they were so cool. I instantly became enamored. I always had them laying around the shop and when I learned about all of the different kinds, I just fell down the rabbit hole.
How has Blackwing become a part of your creative process?
I use the Blackwing Matte to trace templates because it makes a nice broad, dark line. I always like to have a Blackwing Natural for marking certain things, I basically use all of the different graphite types for specific parts of the process. Some woods react differently to different graphites so I’ll use the pencils accordingly.
What are some other essential tools you can’t live without?
I have so many tools that are so specific, but some of my favorites are my Field Notes journals, my Lie Nielsen bevel edge chisels, and my Bridge City Tools hand planes.
What piece of advice would you give to someone that wants to pursue a creative lifestyle?
I often forget that the pursuit of a creative lifestyle isn’t the same for everyone. For me, I’m very lucky to get to be as creative as I am and to get to make something with my own two hands every day, but at the end of the day, I need to get paid for it. Not every artist is going to bank making a living on their creativity. Some have day jobs that they may like or not, and the art is there to take their minds away from their everyday work, whereas my art is my day-to-day work. So, I guess my advice would be, and sorry to sound perhaps a touch cliché, but do it because you love it. Find what inspires you, and do it simply because you love to do it. You may get paid for it or you may not. You may always have to have that day job to pay your bills and support yourself, but you can, and should, always feed that creative void. An escape from my day-to-day grind is baking sourdough bread. I don’t think about anything else when I’m baking, other than the joy of it all. The payment is the end reward of eating it and seeing the smiles on the faces of my family.