Very Interesting Guitars by Ben Simon

Sometimes I like to be Old School and go to a library to check out magazines and books randomly. Last week in my magazine research I stumbled upon a very interesting photo of a guitar designed and built by Ben Simon. So I E-mailed him and asked for more info and permission to share his works in 4Dfrog.com. So this is what he wrote me back. Thank you Ben Simon and good luck with your creative and interesting Guitars.

“I learned woodworking in a furniture shop in North Carolina. I started building guitars in ‘06 and in ‘07 my band, “Get the People” (myspace.com/getthepeople) went to Europe twice with guitars and basses that I built. I now live in Brooklyn and am a member of 3rd Ward (3rdward.com), where I have full access to a wood shop. I have recently got my first commission – an all old growth heart pine electric guitar with built in casio keyboard and sound effects machine!

The first guitar came from experimenting with all different kinds of wood. I was making a lot of cutting boards at that time, some that were kind of out there… An electric guitar body is basically a cutting board. Nothing is missing from those you can buy. My stuff is just generally angular and weird and above all they are so fun to make! My great teacher, David Tronzo told me that the natives – the tribesmen built their instruments around themselves, what sounds that particular individual was drawn to make… He told me this a long time ago, and I guess that every musician does this without thinking about it. I’m kinda like a special needs kid in this way.

Standard woodworking tools is what I use. The router is important.

I was trained in general woodworking by these great men – burchcompanywoodstudio.com. Of course I look online, but the main thing I did was take apart an electric guitar and copy the individual parts. “

myspace.com/getthepeople

flickr.com/bensimonmusic