Mark Piper builds guitars at his shop – Redentore Guitars – in Kerrville. Photo by Phil Houseal
April 4, 2012–For someone whose handmade guitars have been called “the perfect instrument,” “the Rolls Royce of guitars,” and “the guitar I want to take to heaven with me,” Mark Piper is surprisingly humble.
“I don’t have a huge ego,” said Piper, who after a 30-year career building and repairing guitars has brought his shop to Kerrville. “This is a gift. It is something I can do that I love doing rather than going to a job I hate doing.”
For a while he did have a job he grew to hate. Building guitars for a “larger” company, he learned he had no grasp of company politics. “I had always worked in small shops,” he said. “I discovered it’s a whole new world out there, and I didn’t like it. It took the joy out of it for me.”
He started wondering if that was the kind of person he wanted to be. After some serious soul searching, Piper decided to go his own way. In 2007, he and his wife, Dian, came to Kerrville, where he runs Redentore Guitars out of a shop west of town.
(Redentore is Italian for “Redeemer.” Bob Benedetto, the living Italian master of the arch top guitar, who trained Piper, told him to “name it something Italian” to sound better.)
Was starting Redentore the right decision?
“Yes, absolutely,” he said with no hesitation. “You couldn’t pay me to go back.”
Piper’s love affair with the six-string guitar began when he was in high school in Tennessee. He played in a soul band called Blue-Eyed Soul. In 1979, he took a class where he built his first guitar – a flat top acoustic. He still has it.
“I attempted to sell it, but I never really wanted to.”
Today, Piper is known for his arch top guitars. The arch top acoustic guitar is more akin to a violin than the traditional flat top guitar. The top and back are domed, with a “recurve” around the edge of both faces that acts as a sound hinge, allow the back to vibrate with the notes.
Like a violin, nothing touches the top of the guitar other than the bridge. The tailpiece wraps over the end, and the pick guard with electronics is anchored to the side of the neck.
While keeping a healthy respect for how instruments are built traditionally, Piper prides himself on taking techniques to another level.
“I can’t do anything just good enough,” he said. “I ask, how can it be done better? I am always striving to move it ahead a little further; to evolve the instrument, if you will.”
From his playing days, he noticed that the inner two strings did not have the authority of the outer strings. So he added a center post to the bridge, along with a center brace tucked up under the crotch of the traditional arch X brace. “I swear it makes a difference,” he whispered.
Other than the electronics, Piper makes every piece of the guitar himself, including the tailpieces, fret boards, and even the bridge. He uses a machine to rough carve the backs and tops, but will spend half a day graduating the thickness to his exact requirements by hand. He estimates he puts several hundred hours into each instrument, which sell in a range from $2500 up to $9000.
“No one makes exactly what I want, so I have to make it myself.”
His attention to detail sets him apart. For example, rather than hammering in the frets and holding them with a little drop of glue, Piper epoxies each fret in place.
“I epoxy because there is a little bit of airspace in the fret board. If you add it up over 21 frets, there is about 1/4 inch of air.” The result is that the neck is kind of springy, leaving resonant notes, dead spots, and hot spots. The epoxy fills the gaps. “It’s harder to do and takes more time, but the result in my opinion is worth it. The most consistent comment I get is that my guitars play very evenly from bottom to top.”
He uses traditional woods, – curly maple, citrus spruce, and cherry, and is starting to experiment with Texas woods such as mesquite.
Being in Texas has had another influence on Piper – he is looking to add guitars preferred by Texas musicians, including telecaster and dreadnought styles.
But the biggest influence on Piper might be his wife. “The day after our honeymoon, she said, we need to move to Texas. After 22 years, I gave in.”
Then, about 10 years after they were married, she “finally dragged me into a church,” he said. “That changed my life.”
Today, while making the consummate musical instrument, Piper realizes life is about more. “It is not just about the instrument,” he said. “It is about the relationships with the artists, the people who run the stores or that I meet at a show, or even the suppliers of woods and parts. The older I get, the more I enjoy the people.”
And the more people enjoy his guitars.
“I want to make the best quality guitar I can make, and I want to make a living for my wife and myself, of course. I want people to know when they see that name, that it will be a quality instrument and they will be treated fairly.”
Details:
Learn more about Mark Piper’s guitars at www.redentoreguitars.com