Linda Manzer (born July 2, 1952) is a Canadian master

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

renowned for her

archtop An archtop guitar is a hollow electric or semi-acoustic guitar with a full body and a distinctive arched top, whose sound is particularly popular with jazz, blues, and rockabilly players. Typically, an archtop guitar has: * Six strings * An arc ...

, flat top, and

harp guitars The harp guitar is a guitar-based stringed instrument generally defined as a "guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." The word "harp" is used in reference to ...

Career

Manzer was a folk singer in high school and played guitar. Her career began when she wanted a

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

, but she couldn't afford to buy one, so she built one from a kit. She attended two art colleges, where she studied painting. For the craft of making flattop guitars she studied with Jean Larrivée from 1974 to 1978. She went to New York in 1983 and 1984 and studied archtop building with

Jimmy D'Aquisto James L. D'Aquisto (Brooklyn, November 9, 1935 – California, April 17, 1995) was an Italian–American luthier who concentrated on building and repairing archtop guitars. He served as an apprentice to John D'Angelico beginning in 1952 and late ...

. In addition to her standard models, she has designed and built by hand over 50 guitar prototypes, including soprano guitar, the first acoustic baritone guitar , she also designed the first acoustic sitar guitar plus several multinecked

. She has designed and built over 25 instruments for

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

, including the Pikasso, which has 42 strings and four necks. He has played the Pikasso on many albums including ''

Imaginary Day ''Imaginary Day'' is the ninth studio album by the Pat Metheny Group. It was released in 1997 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was strongly inspired by world music from Iran and Indonesia, and won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jaz ...

'' , '' What's It All About'', and '' Beyond the Missouri Sky (Short Stories)''. He played her baritone guitar on the album ''

One Quiet Night ''One Quiet Night'' is a solo acoustic guitar album by Pat Metheny that won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 2004. He recorded the album at his home studio on a baritone guitar built for him by Linda Manzer. In the liner notes, Methe ...

''. Plus she built and co-designed with Metheny a limited edition of 30 handmade Metheny-Manzer signature models to celebrate a 30-year collaboration with Pat Metheny. Professional musicians who own Manzer guitars include

Julian Lage Julian Lage ( ; born December 25, 1987) is an American guitarist and composer. Career A child prodigy, Lage was the subject of the 1996 short documentary film ''Jules at Eight''. At 12, he performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards. Three years later ...

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

, Henrik Andersen,

Stephen Fearing Stephen Fearing (born 1963) is a Canadian roots/folk singer-songwriter.

Milton Nascimento Milton Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has toured across the world. Nascimento has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album for his alb ...

Liona Boyd Liona Maria Carolynne Boyd, (born 11 July 1949) is a classical guitarist often referred to as the First Lady of the Guitar. Music career Early years Boyd was born in London and grew up in Toronto. Her father grew up in Bilbao, Spain, and her ...

Heather Bishop Heather Bishop, (born April 25, 1949) is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter primarily known for her work as a social justice advocate and in the field of folk music and children's music. For her dedication to social justice, she has been awarde ...

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics including human rights, environmental issues, po ...

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

, Roy Patterson,

Marie-Lynn Hammond Marie-Lynn Hammond (born August 31, 1948) is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter, broadcaster and playwright. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to a Franco-Ontarian mother and an Anglo-Quebecer father, she is fluently bilingual and writes and perform ...

Susan Crowe Susan Crowe is a Canadian folk singer-songwriter. She was the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards English songwriter of the year and has been nominated for two Juno Awards. Career Crowe's interest in music began when her father and mother enrolled ...

, and

Gordon Lightfoot Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music. He is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960 ...

. Her custom designs include the 52-stringed Medusa owned by Danish musician Henrik Andersen.

Pikasso Guitar

In 1984 Pat Metheny requested a guitar that had "as many strings as possible". Manzer came up with the Pikasso, a guitar with 42 strings arranged in four string sections, including a hexaphonic pickup to interface with Metheny's

Synclavier The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early 1 ...

synthesizer. The Pikasso has two holes for mounting the guitar on a stand, allowing the guitarist to play the guitar without having to hold it. Metheny plays the Pikasso on "Finding and Believing" from '' Secret Story'', "Montevideo" and "Dismantling Utopia" from ''

Quartet In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...

'', "Into the Dream" from ''

'', and "The Sound of Water" from his ''Quartet'' album with

Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, and toured and recorded while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's Quar ...

. While building the Pikasso, Manzer invented "The Wedge" body geometry: Because there were so many strings crisscrossing, Manzer wanted Metheny to be able to see all the strings while looking down at the guitar. She settled on a

wedge A wedge is a triangular shaped tool, and is a portable inclined plane, and one of the six simple machines. It can be used to separate two objects or portions of an object, lift up an object, or hold an object in place. It functions by converti ...

shape, with the sides of the guitar being skinnier under the arm and wider on the knee. This enabled Metheny to have a slight aerial view of the strings because the guitar leaned back a little. The added benefit was it was more physically comfortable. In the 1980s she began using the "Manzer Wedge" design for all of her guitars.

References

External links

*
"The Larrivee Tradition of Handmade Canadian Guitars"

''The Canadian Encyclopedia''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manzer, Linda Living people Guitar makers Canadian luthiers 1952 births Women instrument makers

Career

Pikasso Guitar

See also

References

External links