I was supposed to be the lead front page story in this weeks local newspaper, but I got bumped to page 5 by some guy that killed his wife. Seems like they thought that was better news than my story.

My phone has been ringing off of the hook all day, and a couple of those calls looks like will turn into new comissions for me.

Here's a picture of the story.

Thanks for looking!

Ken

Actually, I do have the article. The news reporter sent it to me so that I could keep a record of it. Some of it he got a little off on, but I guess after all of the talking we did that afternoon, and him not knowing anything about guitars, he did a pretty good job overall. Some of the details of this wont make any sense un less you live here and know the area..

here it is ...................................

I’M LIVING MY DREAM

John McCoy

Ken Hodges, who lives between Callahan and Hilliard, says he is “Living his dream.”  A luthier, he builds guitars – he designs them, gathers the raw materials including exotic woods and other materials from around the world, and puts them together to make beautiful precision musical instruments with a unique sound all their own.. 

He brought a special guitar to the Westside Journal the other day which he built from a tree located behind the Callahan Town Hall. Its back and sides are sycamore; its rosette and decorations around the front and back are from Vietnam; the fingerboard  inlay materials are from  Vietnam and Taiwan just to name a few of its worldwide sources and “ingredients.”  With all that, it is still truly a unique “Callahan” guitar.  It sounds pretty good, too.

The term “luthier,” from the French, dates back to Egyptian and Biblical times.  It means those who build stringed instruments meant to be played by touching the strings directly or “plucking”; i.e., lutes, harps, and guitars. Bowed instruments such as violins are related but made by a different category of craftsmen called archetiers. 

Born December 9, 1956, Ken has spent most of his life in his current home.  He married the former Lori Morgan on November 27, 1975.  Her parents are Henry and Marcella Morgan. 

Ken and Lori actually grew up together in the Callahan area and both attended West Nassau High School, Ken graduating in 1974, Lori in 1975.  While they actually met at West Nassau High School, they both attended Callahan’s Bible Baptist Church on Musselwhite Road and got to know eachother better through church.. 

They were married on November 27, 1975.  They have one child, a daughter, Mandy.  She and her husband, Kris Moody, live in Murfreesboro, TN,  and operate Italiansuitwarehouse.com, an on-line business which features imported clothing from Italy.

Ken’s background is varied.  Getting in on computers very early, he discovered a talent for working with a way to create music using a keyboard, a computer and a synthesizer.  This process is called Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI).   You can still find his music on the Internet by Googling “Ken Hodges MIDI”.  I listened to some of his material – it’s pretty good. 

He headed America On Line (AOL)’s music and sound forum for 10 years.

Ken also worked as a subcontractor for the Department of Defense for several years.

He worked for 25 years in the chemical business at Jacksonville’s Glidco Organics (now New Millineum), leaving there in 1996 due to illness.  He and his family went to the mountains in Georgia where he became further involved with the Internet, setting up an Internet provider called Acme BrainWorks.

He kept that business going and did quite well until it became necessary to return to Callahan in 2005 due to his parents becoming ill.  He lost his father in 2006 and his mother now lives in the Hilliard Life Care Center. 

He was still looking for something to do and decided to buy a portable saw mill.  Tree surgeons would provide him logs and he cut them up, making various things out of them, some of which he would sell.

A clock he formed from a wooden slab hangs on his wall and shares space in the living room with another clock, a grandfather-style which sits on a mantle.  That clock, marked on its back with a date from the mid-1800’s, was bought by his grandfather.

He decided to combine his love of woodworking with his love of music and a new hobby, building guitars, was born.  After doing some research, he was able to attend an Allentown, PA,  school developed by former Martin Guitar Company engineer Frank Finnochio – a school which Ken credits as leapfrogging him at least a decade ahead of where he would have been had he not become a student there.

Ken had joined an exclusive fraternity peopled by want-to-be luthiers from around the world.

Martin guitars were considered, if not the best guitars in the world, among the best and were sought after.  Because spruce, usually used in guitar building, was also needed for aircraft manufacture, the guitar industry suffered during both World Wars.  During and after World War II, Martin changed some of its procedures and only later took a fresh look at some of their pre-World War II instruments.  They found that the sound had mellowed and was even better than before.

Ken bases his designs on the old Martin guitars and incorporates many of their methods.  He’s added things of his own design and created his own, individual sound.  He remarked that many new luthiers find their first attempts don’t produce as good a sound as they would like.  Old time guitar players trying out his early instruments are generally quite surprised.  “I’ve raised some eyebrows,” he said.

Talking about his luthier business, he pointed out that he is a Christian and believes talent is God’s blessing all the way around.  Because of God’s blessings, he’s financially able to do what he wants to do – fulfilling a passion he’s had all his life but felt, before, unable to do anything about. 

“Now, the time is right and, with the support of my wife, I’ve been able to start this hobby which is quickly turning into a business” which, again, is doing quite well.

He’s currently negotiating to have his guitars tested by studios in Nashville and in New York and hopes some name musicians or groups will be playing them shortly.  He doesn’t lack business, however.  His web site, Hodgesguitars.com, gets noticed world wide.  He was surprised to find that many of his hits are coming from southeast Asia, Singapore, Hong Kong and other parts of that area of the world.

He has a number of commissioned guitar orders and doesn’t expect to be able to handle new ones until sometime in December, if not next year.   He can build a guitar out of any type of wood, even old furniture.  Strangely enough, guitars made from aged  material often sound better than those made from newly harvested wood.

Ken showed me his workshop – which was quite clean and orderly.  His father had worked on the railroad and had a workshop at home.  He has planes, saws, buffers and other equipment I can’t even name.

He, the postmen and the delivery drivers from UPS and other companies are just about on a “first name” basis.  He orders equipment, materials and woods from around the world and gets deliveries just about every day – if not several times a day.. 

Value, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.  To anyone not a luthier, his collection of woods and other things needed for guitar building would be absolutely worthless: the wood’s too thin and individual pieces too small to do anything with.  To him, it’s worth more than gold. 

It’s fascinating to watch Ken take thin pieces of wood and form them into the shape of a guitar then show me the other materials he uses: mother of pearl, abalone, leopard wood from Africa, various kinds of mahogany – some like the Honduran wood becoming very scarce – and the many other items, some of which were mentioned earlier..

Though I have always liked country music, I had no idea before I visited Ken what it took to build a guitar.  These are acoustic guitars and the sound depends not only upon the material used to build the instrument but on precise measurements and practically zero tolerance as well. The equipment he uses is precise and able to measure curved surfaces almost impossible to see.  All this plays a part in producing truly unique sounds.

I saw wood come alive as he rubbed in a finish.   He’s very careful who he lets into his workshop.  I was lucky, I got to see it.  I don’t believe I will ever look at someone playing a guitar again without some appreciation of the work and material which goes into it. 

If you’d like to learn more about Ken and his guitars, take a look at the website: www.hodgesguitars.com or send him an email at ken@hodgesguitars.com.  You may also reach Ken by calling (904) 879-2139.  Don’t worry if you don’t reach him right away – he’s usually pretty busy.  Leave a message and he’ll get back in touch with you shortly. 

There were quite a number of pictures taken and sent to me, but only one of them was actually used int he story. This same story is supposed to be posted at jacksonville.com, but I dont know when. I'm sure he will let me know when it is published.

Thanks again everybody! The phone calls and visits continue today, and it looks like I have another couple of comissions out of this.