An Inside Look Into Thanh Cam Musical Instruments | Terence Tan
guitarbench
I thought it would be a nice change from the single luthier shops to
relate my experiences with Asian Pacific small shop/higher end makers.
This week. I give you an inside tour in one of Vietnam's most famous
atelier style workshops, Thanh Cam Musical Instruments.
Asia-pac guitars have come along way from the poorly made laminates of
the 80's. Nowadays luthiers study techniques from the West and
incorporate their own ideas from traditional stringed instruments of
the east to create higher end guitars.
I can't link pics here so for the full presentation, please check it
out here: http://guitarbench.com/index.php/2009/11/18/an-inside-look-into-thanh-cam-musical-instruments-terence-tan/
Warmest regards,
Terence
www.guitarbench.com
An Inside Look Into Thanh Cam Musical Instruments | Terence Tan
By terence | November 18, 2009
Thanh Cam Musical Instruments Factory Tour. Do Viet Dung luthier.
Vietnam
Asian crafted guitars are no longer associated with poor workmanship,
sub optimal tone and dismal playability. In fact, instruments from the
Pacific Rim are beginning to make an impact on the higher end of the
flattop scene. Thanh Cam musical instruments in Vietnam is a family
operated atelier style workshop. The workshop was started by Do Van
Thuoc in 1953 at the tender age of fourteen. He learnt the art of the
luthiery from his uncle who was a famous instrument maker in Ha Noi
during the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Prior to 1960 Van Thuoc learnt to build Guitars, Mandolins, Violins
and traditional Vietnamese Instruments like the Dan Bau and Dan Tran.
In 1976 he was sent to the Beijing Musical Instrument Enterprises in
China where he studied the craft of constructing Chinese musical
instruments. Three years later, he was promoted to the post of
technical expert and manager.
In 1990 he left to start his own shop, the Thanh Cam Workshop. “Thanh
Cam” in Vietnamese means “Sound of the instrument”- a key philosophy
he has passed down to his son, Do Viet Dung who now runs the family
business. Dung has joined Guild of American Luthiers to improve and
exchange ideas on instrument construction and is constantly elevating
his craft.
Thanh Cam Workshop occupies the top 3 levels of the 5 storey family
property in Ha Noi. A group of luthiers produce around 400 instruments
a month, the vast majority student grade. Dung is now expanding his
own atelier style made high end guitars. These guitars are
predominantly slated for export, for OEM sales or custom orders.
The student grade instruments are constructed using locally sourced
woods and produced to a high although not cosmetically perfect
standard. Playability and sound of the student classical guitars are
comparable to larger factory made instruments.
The high end guitar are a different story altogether and I will
concentrate on these. Timbers are sourced locally and internationally
with Sitka spruce tops and Indian rosewood imported directly from
source.
Local timbers used for atelier guitars are of higher quality and rarer
woods such as Vietnamese Rosewood, a true dalbergia with similar
properties to cocobolo, and brazilian rosewood. It also possess a
beautiful red hue and is often sound with spiderwebbing.
The guitars I have seen and played at the workshop featured an X top.
The tops were around 4mm thick and all joints were glued with white
poly glue. Finishing was done with either shellac or nitrocellulose.
Necks were dovetailed and the guitars were then setup in a dedicated
room at around 50-60% humidity.
More recently, Dung has been making Weissenborn guitars as an OEM
supplier and finds that his long experience in building various
traditional and western instruments invalubale in new projects such as
this.
Let me give a first hand account of my experiences in the workshop.
The fit and finish are good with minor purfling and rosette bleed, the
routing for the binding is clean and the joints are tight. The
interiors are clean, with a few glue spills. Any pearl inlay work is
outsourced to artisans. Vietnam has a long history in inlay and
engraving work and the quality was very high with tight fits and
delicate, accurate work.
Setup and action on the 2 demo guitars I played were excellent,
surpassing many high end guitars. The OM guitar I played was Sitka
Spruce/ Vietnamese Rosewood. It featured a soft cutaway, which was
well executed. The other demo was an archtop with 4 piece carved Sitka
top and 2 piece Curly Maple back and sides. The fit and finish of the
archtop was excellent….
Right, now to the hard part. The tone. I would stick my neck out and
say that the tone is within the Martin influenced sphere. The tone of
the OMc offers clarity and poise with crisp trebles and a balanced mid
range. The Archtop has good chop with woody, but well balanced
overtones.
Throughout the tour, I found that the workmen were all focussed on the
tone of the instruments and trying constantly to improve the
aesthetics and playability of their instruments.
Jack Campin - bogus address
> atelier style workshops, Thanh Cam Musical Instruments.
>
> Asia-pac guitars have come along way from the poorly made laminates
> of the 80's. Nowadays luthiers study techniques from the West and
> incorporate their own ideas from traditional stringed instruments
> of the east to create higher end guitars.
Fuck that's depressing. One of the world's great musical traditions
nearly bombed out of existence by the Americans, and now the last
trees they've got are being squandered to make instruments to play
country music on.
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e m a i l : j a c k @ c a m p i n . m e . u k
Jack Campin, 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU, Scotland
mobile 07800 739 557 <http://www.campin.me.uk> Twitter: JackCampin
David Hajicek
"Jack Campin - bogus address" <bo...@purr.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:bogus-9149E0....@news.albasani.net...
It could be worse. They could be making Banjos! ;>)
Dave Hajicek