Jan 22, 2014


A celebrated 40-year career as one of Canada's top-notch luthiers was not the career that Oskar Graf originally planned for, but he affirms that it is one that he is very grateful for.

Trained in his native Germany as a cabinet maker and industrial/furniture designer, Graf, who was born in Berlin, came to Canada in 1968. He worked briefly in his trained field upon his arrival in Toronto before purchasing land not far east of Clarendon Station, where he designed and built the home and workshop that he has lived and worked in ever since.

When I interviewed him there earlier this week Graf recalled, “I really was not sure what I would do when I first moved out here. I did know that I was not going to start up a big cabinet shop and I knew that I would be making something craft-related.” It was while in Toronto during those first years that Graf became affiliated with the people who started up the Toronto Folklore Centre. He recalled being both “fascinated and inspired” by a young American man there who was building guitars in a backroom.

Soon after, Graf began making instruments, first Appalachian dulcimers and other folk instruments at his shop in Clarendon. Eventually he took on guitar making to further challenge himself, and with the understanding that there was a larger market for guitars. He made his first two guitars in 1973, one classical and one twelve-string, and eventually he would leave off making other folk instruments and focus his talents exclusively on a line of guitars, primarily classical and acoustic steel-stringed instruments that now sell in the $8,000 to $12,000 range.

Oskar Graf is primarily self-taught and he recalled that in those early days, there was not a lot of information readily available to an aspiring luthier. He was fortunate, though, to come into contact early on with John Larrivée, now likely the best known guitar maker in Canada. Larrivée also apprenticed many now-famed luthiers, including Grit Laskin and others but at that time he was working solo. Graf said Larrivée was very generous with his knowledge and he remains grateful to him for that.

In his 40-year career Graf has made over 400 guitars, each taking upwards of 100 hours to build. Along the way he has garnered an international clientele of famed musicians. Don Ross is one of many who commissioned Graf to build a one-of-a-kind seven-stringed guitar, which Ross has referred to as “one of the seven wonders of the world.”

In 2003, to celebrate his 30 years in business and to thank the countless musicians who have inspired his work, Graf put out a CD with many notable musicians playing the instruments he crafted exclusively for them.

I had a chance to view Graf's personal collection of guitars, three or four keepers and some he has made in the last couple of years, anticipating his upcoming retirement. Anyone who has seen one knows that a Graf guitar is as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as to the ear and Graf says that his success is founded on a mysterious combination of technique, science, and art. “There are aspects of what I do that are artistic - the combination of the physical aspects of the instrument, the choice of the wood, the joinery, the shape and the finish, which together create the sculptural thing and make up the physical envelope. But it is the more nebulous aspects - what is inside the form, the tonal quality that is created - that are also so important. From the start when I first begin making an instrument, I have to have the sense of what the outcome is going to be, not just as a physical object but also the sound quality of the instrument. The goal is always to create an instrument that best suits the musician playing it.”

Graf admits that to this day he cannot say exactly how that nebulous aspect works. He recalled that when he started out it could be a very scary thing. One of his early commissions came from famed Canadian guitar player and teacher Eli Kassner, who taught Liona Boyd how to play. He recalled delivering the finished product to Kassner and how that guitar proved early on that Graf had that special, mysterious affinity. That same instrument appeared 30 years later in the hands of a new owner when Graf was giving a workshop in Toronto and he said that he was thrilled to see for himself how the guitar looked and sounded as good 30 years later as when he first made it.

In fact it was that instrument that inspired Graf to make a similar one recently for himself. Graf said that as a luthier there is ever the ultimate goal of making that one perfect guitar. “The finer you become as maker, you are always still striving for that illusive thing. “

Graf summed up why and how guitar making has kept his interest over four decades. “For me guitar making has allowed me to build something to the best of my ability without the pressure of time and price. It has allowed me the opportunity to do totally uncompromising work.”

Graf has been slowing his output over the last three or four years and now is working on a few guitars that perhaps might be some of his final instruments. One is a gift for his son Tony and two other commissions stand on a shelf in his workshop awaiting their next step. While he says that he will no longer be actively marketing himself (though to date his website is still up and running), he said he might undertake projects for those who continue to seek him out.

However, now that he is fast approaching the age of 70, he feels it is time to wrap things up and retire.

Asked if he has plans to continuing creating, Graf picks up a turned wooden bowl he made and says he thinks he might explore wood carving or wood turning along with photography, the latter a hobby that he has pursued for many years.

The celebrated Canadian guitar maker (also well known as the founder of the annual Blue Skies Music festival) is now not exactly sure how he is going to fill his days though he does say that he feels he still has a lot of creative juice in him. “I know I will not be sitting around, that's for sure, but at this point I'm not sure exactly what's next for me.” Graf is currently closely documenting the guitar that he is now building for his son, which he said may in the future become the basis of a DVD or a possible book. “I am one of the old timers now and have a unique approach to building guitars. Being self-taught, I have picked up things from everywhere and build guitars in a unique way that best suits me. I am stubborn in the sense that I primarily use hand tools and not a lot of machinery, and so have a very old-fashioned, traditional approach.”

So though the guitar world will be losing one of its most gifted makers, Graf will not only be leaving behind more than 400 beautiful instruments but also a record of his unique approach to making them. To see more of Oskar's work visit www.grafguitars.com

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