Discovering Unique Instruments: A Guitar That Roars

“When I understood that I could learn to make a guitar, that I could create sound with my own hands and toolbox, I cried.”
—Thierry André, maker of unique instruments

When Thierry André first picked up a guitar he felt as though the vibrations of the strings were bound to the divine.

At that moment, the physics and chemistry he was learning in high school started to make sense, as if they were encompassed within that one note of music.

That eureka moment was a call of destiny he couldn’t ignore.

“It was like discovering a new universal language,” André says. “A big door opened in front of me. That vibrating string gave me a road to follow.”

A musical calling

From fixing a friend’s bike to building a ramp for the local skate park, André has always found joy in working with his hands. Yet as a teenager, his private high school was directing him toward more academic professions like law or medicine.

“I was honestly feeling a little lost, and I didn’t know where to put my energy. I didn’t find satisfaction in my academic studies,” André says.

It was during this time that he fell in love with the guitar. André had a strong sense of musicality but it never dawned on him that he could make such a magical instrument with his own hands.

This changed after he realized that the guitar’s build follows specific rules of design. These encompass both the materials used—screws, fret wire, wood, paint, and coating—and their assembly.

“When I understood that I could learn to make a guitar, that I could create sound with my own hands and toolbox, I cried,” he says.

At 19, André entered Bruand, a luthier school in the Montreal area. He was grateful for the opportunity but struggled with the design process. The turning point came in 2004 when Fred Carlson, a celebrated luthier from California, took him under his wing.

André observed how Carlson spent days or even weeks sketching an instrument, planning the intricacies of a complex build on paper. This taught the young man to understand the value of a lengthy design process, which proved to be an invaluable lesson.

Finding his worth and freedom

These days, André’s bespoke guitars often sell for over $20,000. On average, each of his clients owns three of his unique creations. Yet when he began on this career path, creating a sustainable, fruitful business was a challenge.

“I started this work as a love affair with the instrument and the music. It was difficult for me to charge money for the craft,” André says.

The Montreal Guitar Show in 2008 taught him an important lesson. He was showcasing his newly completed guitar Sakura, a finely crafted instrument made from Sitka spruce and black cherry. When a collector saw the guitar, he instantly fell in love with it. But André thought it could still use a few adjustments, so he dropped the price from $3,500 to $2,500. Instead of motivating the collector, the latter lost interest.

André returned home and added the finishing touches to Sakura. He made it available for $6,000, and the same collector bought it immediately. That was when André realized that bespoke guitar collectors aren’t interested in bargains. They’re drawn to craftsmanship, quality, and rare designs that speak to the soul.

Through this experience, André learned to value himself and his work. He started to charge a fair price for his creations, thus gaining the opportunity to dedicate himself more fully to his craft.

It was the beginning of true independence and freedom.

“Only when the basic needs of an individual are covered can the expression and inspiration take place and touch others,” André says.

An impossible feat

André has always pushed the boundaries of what is possible with the sound and structure of his materials. For one of his most highly acclaimed creations, the Oudtar, he gained inspiration from the oud, a Middle-Eastern pear-shaped string instrument that resembles the European lute.

“Oud” means “from wood” in Arabic, and it was the first stringed instrument to be crafted with a wooden top. Before that, all the stringed instruments had a skin top.

André became familiar with the oud at his first workshop in Montreal, a cosmopolitan city that gathers musicians from all over the world. Artists from Turkey, Africa, India, and the Middle East were regularly bringing him instruments for repair.

“This gave me the opportunity to see lots of different instruments—Old World instruments,” he says. “At one point, I was repairing the oud more than anything else. This had a big influence on me.”

While working intimately with the instrument, André had a nearly impossible idea.

In Europe, the lute was popular for centuries before the introduction of flat-backed guitars. Yet he felt that there was a missing link between the lute and the modern guitar. He thus created the Oudtar, an instrument that combines the features of the oud (a relative of the lute) and the guitar.

To pull off this imaginative feat, André innovated new methods of construction. He received a grant from the Quebec Council for the Arts, which allowed him to spend a year and a half building the new instrument.

The most challenging part of crafting the Oudtar was its double-curved back. A regular oud has one convex curve, which means that it’s easy to pull the shell out of the mold. But André’s Oudtar has two.

To make the double-convex back, he built it into two parts and pulled the mold out sideways. He then joined the two parts at the end.

“A standard steel-string guitar has a compliant back. When you strike a note, the back will pump air and move. It will give you bass notes in this way, acting as a trampoline,” he says. “But with the Oudtar, the double-curved back makes the whole soundbox reflective. It’s like a dome or vault that gives reverb to the sound.”

André likens this to the acoustics in a cathedral whose design allows people to hear their voices echoing up the walls. Since the Oudtar doesn’t have the sharp edges of a guitar box, the sound resonates like an oud or a lute, both of whom have rounded backs.

“The bass of the Oudtar roars like a lion,” André says. “It sounds deep, but it has no flexible material around it. So it’s full, strong, and focused.”

Built from his passion and devotion, André’s career is like the deep, resonant roar of his Oudtar.

Its special sound lingers on.