The Guitar and Lute Workshop (GLW) was a manufacturer of custom

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

s, and period stringed instruments based in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

between 1970 and 1976. The workshop was known primarily for the talented

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 ...

s employed in either construction of guitars, or the musicians that taught at the workshop or that used guitars made at the workshop. Additionally, an independent piano restoration and tuning business operated above the workshop floor and studios for at least two years. The GLW was notable as a nexus of activity supporting native Hawaiian musical cultural discovery during the Second

Hawaiian Renaissance The Hawaiian Renaissance (also called the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance) was the Hawaiian resurgence of a distinct cultural identity that draws upon traditional kānaka maoli culture, with a significant divergence from the tourism-based culture ...

of the 1970s, with key Hawaiian musicians such as

Keola Beamer Keola Beamer (born Keolamaikalani Breckenridge Beamer February 18, 1951) is a Hawaiian slack-key guitar player, best known as the composer of "Honolulu City Lights" and an innovative musician who fused Hawaiian roots and contemporary music. Keola ...

and Kapono Beamer gaining starts in their careers at the GLW, as well as musical instrument restoration for instruments of Hawaiian royalty (of the

Kingdom of Hawaii The Hawaiian Kingdom, or Kingdom of Hawaiʻi ( Hawaiian: ''Ko Hawaiʻi Pae ʻĀina''), was a sovereign state located in the Hawaiian Islands. The country was formed in 1795, when the warrior chief Kamehameha the Great, of the independent island ...

), now curated by

ʻIolani Palace The Iolani Palace ( haw, Hale Aliʻi ʻIolani) was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaii beginning with Kamehameha III under the Kamehameha Dynasty (1845) and ending with Queen Liliʻuokalani (1893) under the Kalākaua Dyna ...

. Additionally, the GLW's focus on traditional period stringed instruments was, in part, responsible for the resurgent interest in the

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

and traditional luthierie methods within the western United States in the early 1970s.

Establishment and business

The Guitar and Lute Workshop was started by Donald C. Marienthal, George Gilmore, and

in 1970 and was based in a warehouse building on Waimanu Street near Ala Moana Shopping Center. A retail outlet to the manufacturing facility was later opened nearby. The workshop closed in 1976. The warehouse was demolished in 1998 to make way for two large commercial properties and the

KHON Khon ( th, โขน, ) is a dance drama genre from Thailand. Khon has been performed since the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It is traditionally performed solely in the royal court by men in masks accompanied by narrators and a traditional piphat ensembl ...

television studios.

recalls the early days of the GLW: "In my early twenties, I was making guitars with George Gilmore and Donald Marienthal. We had the wild idea we could make nice guitars out of koa and

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

wood so we took out a loan from the

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and stren ...

and started the Guitar and Lute Workshop on Waimanu Street in Honolulu. People started coming in to ask about slack key. There were very few teachers back then, so I agreed to try it." Early development of the twin-sound hole guitar is partially attributed to the GLW, with at least two of the twin-hole guitars becoming a signature style for Keola and Kapono Beamer as their musical careers evolved, specifically around the traditional Hawaiian slack-key guitar style. Due to the immaturity of the twin-hole style early on, some twin-hole guitars were returned to the GLW for repair, ostensibly due to distorted tops ( sound board) as a result of insufficient bracing under the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

. In addition to guitars, specialty instruments produced at the GLW included

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...

, and

viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

. At least one of Eddie Kamae's ukuleles was built at the GLW by Brian Ikehara. The shop also sold musical supplies, such as

and

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

strings, as well as miscellaneous items such as

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

s, all of which added profitability to the shop, but which the shop owners did not consider associated with “legitimate musical instruments”.

Adjunct and associated musical businesses

An offshoot enterprise of the GLW was Galliard Press, publisher of the Guitar and Lute magazine (beginning with Volume 1 in April, 1974) and various books on classical guitar and lute music. It was conceived by George Gilmore, and was noted as being the last guitar magazine published on a linotype press. Gilmore, a classical guitar teacher at

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

in the 1960s, and Sam Kamaka Jr. (of the

Kamaka Ukulele Kamaka Hawaii, Incorporated, also known as Kamaka Ukulele or just Kamaka is a family-owned Hawaii-based maker of ukuleles. It is often credited with producing some of the world's finest ukuleles, and created the first pineapple ukulele. The compan ...

company) started the Lute Society and taught evening sessions in guitar and lute construction from 1966 to 1970. Gilmore learned lutherie in Spain (

classic guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylo ...

construction) and influenced some of the techniques still used today at the Kamaka factory. A close friend of Gilmore, Ralph Hedges, established a piano tuning and restoration business adjacent to George’s office and studio, and next to the workshop floor. A number of pianos were restored in this area of the workshop, most notably a

square piano The square piano is a type of piano that has horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side, with the sounding board above a cavity in the short side. It is variously ...

attributed to King

Kalākaua Kalākaua (David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua; November 16, 1836 – January 20, 1891), sometimes called The Merrie Monarch, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Kin ...

and Queen Liliuokalani, which was later donated to ‘Iolani Palace. The piano is now located in the palace Blue Room. Peter Coraggio, an early proponent of

ARP synthesizers ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the 1970s before de ...

shared studio space with the GLW in 1973. His studio contained two

ARP 2500 The ARP 2500 is a monophonic analog modular synthesizer equipped with a set of sliding matrix switches above each module. These are the primary method of interconnecting modules. It is the first product of ARP Instruments, Inc., built from 1970 ...

, one

ARP 2600 The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer produced by ARP Instruments, Inc. History Developed by a design team headed by ARP namesake Allen R. Pearlman and engineer Dennis Colin, the ARP 2600 was introduced in 1971 a ...

, an

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "perf ...

, and a mixing board. The Coraggio studios were on the south side of studio space, immediately adjacent to the guitar studios and guitar showroom.

GLW alumni

Notable alumni (luthiers and musicians) associated with the GLW include: * Beamer, Kapono – Hawaiian Slack Key guitar artist
Kapono Beamer's Website
* Beamer, Keola – Hawaiian Slack Key guitar artist and GLW founder and luthier (1970-1973)
Keola Beamer's Website
* Brotman, Charles – Luthier
Charles Brotman's Website
* Ching, Doug – Luthier (1973-1975), noted as being one of the last luthiers to work at GLW before its closure in 1976

* Coraggio, Peter – Musician and early proponent of ARP synthesizers, co-located at the GLW studios; Professor Emeritus,

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

Peter Coraggio Studio Website
* Doremus, Jay - Luthier (1973-1974) * Gilmore, George – Founder and owner of the GLW (1970-1975), luthier, and music professor at

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, publisher of “Guitar and Lute” magazine. * Hedges, Ralph – Piano restorer, tuner, and classical pianist and instructor (1972-1973)
LinkedIn Profile
* Huvard, Anthony - GLW luthier (1970-), GLW repairs manager, inventor of neck-straightening heat press * Ikehara, Brian – Luthier (1973–1974) * Irvine, Kip - Luthier (1975-) * Marienthal, Donald C. – Founder and owner of the GLW (1970-1975) * Martin, Dey – Luthier
Dey Martin Guitars Website
* Pong, Randall - Luthier * Potter, Bart – GLW luthiers (1974-1975), founder of the Hawaii Forest Industry Association

References

{{coord missing, Hawaii Guitar manufacturing companies of the United States 1970 establishments in Hawaii 1976 disestablishments in Hawaii Design companies established in 1970 Design companies disestablished in 1976 Demolished buildings and structures in Hawaii American companies established in 1970 American companies disestablished in 1976 Manufacturing companies based in Hawaii Companies based in Honolulu