Nippon Scape

Rock and jazz, soul and country. Nearly every genre of music today owes a lot to the electric guitar. From swooning stage-side groupies to little kids playing air guitar in their living rooms, it has captured generations of the public imagination. If you’re talking brands; Fender, Gibson, and Fernandez are all big names that immediately come to mind. However, there is one little guitar manufacturer hidden in the mountains of western Tokyo with a staff of just two. Rumor has it that they sell out every guitar show they attend in the States. Exactly what is it about this tiny workshop? We took a trip out to their studio, Jersey Girl Homemade Guitars for a visit.

This workshop really is deep in the mountains, isn’t it?

Goto: We moved here fifteen years ago. This place was built about seventy years ago. It’s old but it’s home and a good place for making guitars, too. When you’re making musical instruments, you can’t help making a bit of noise, and here we don’t have to worry about the neighbors.

It’s just the two of you making guitars, and I heard you even sell them overseas…

Goto: Yes. I do the woodworking and put them together, and Oda does the finishing. Electric guitars were originally a mass-produced, American product. They can’t easily be produced in a small workshop like acoustic guitars are. So in that way, it’s very unusual that we are able to do what we do. (laughs)

It must be hard to make a living as a guitar maker?

Goto: Oh, I don’t know if we’re really making a living, even now. Recently I’ve gotten used to living without any cash. (laughs) We originally started out on one hand doing guitar repairs, while making guitars the rest of the time. But when I was thirty (in 2000), I decided, “I’ll quit doing repairs, and make a living from making guitars as my works of art!” Since then, I’ve been focusing mainly on manufacturing guitars.

What do you mean by “Making guitars as your works of art?”

Goto: Just as an artist paints pictures, and a musician writes songs, I make and sell guitars as my art. We put creation first, and we make our guitars so that they can be used and loved for a hundred years. We make “hundred year guitars.” That was a conscious decision of mine.

So, you could say you’re headed in the exact opposite direction of mass produced products.

Goto: Yes. Regular electric guitars are made with one model and a bunch of variations, and musicians chose which one they’ll use. Then, fans of that musician want that same model, and the guitars sell. That’s the basic sales pattern. We decided to avoid that style, and just make what we like, in the best way possible.

Just because you’ve decided that, can you really make a living creating these works of art?

Goto: At first, we borrowed a corner of a musical instrument shop and sold our guitars there. But, we had to make flyers and promotional goods, and our work outside actually making guitars grew so much that we got tired. It was then that a friend suggested we make a website. And I thought, “If it will help our business, then let’s try it out.” And we made a site. But we just made it in English only.

Why only an English site?

Goto: The reason I started making guitars was because of western music. My dream was to have my guitars accepted in the United States. I figured this was a good first step to achieving that. And then, I was contacted by a dealer in the States who said, “We want to sell your products.” And right away, I deleted the part on the website that said “contact.” (laughs) It’s just too much trouble.

What, really? If it was me, I’d get excited and start grabbing any chance I got…

Goto: Yeah. I got one business contact in America and I thought, well, that’s enough. That one dealer who contacted me is the same age as I am. We really get along, and he’s still my only contact over there. He handles worldwide distribution for us. We only really want to do business with people we know, people we can trust.

That way of working, it’s really wonderful.

Goto: That’s why, right now, we’re happy just making guitars. Having someone in the middle like this, so our works of art can be bought up by Americans that we never see, it’s very nice. On top of that, he set up a booth for our products at NAMM, the world’s biggest musical instrument show. All our guitars got bought up, and a certain rock guitarist that I admire bought one of our products. I really feel that we were lucky to have met someone who helped bring our products to such a level.

How about you, Ms. Oda, what are your feelings about working with Goto on this?

Oda: Originally, I started on this path because of my love for music. When I graduated from high school, I entered a guitar-making school, and Goto was my teacher. Goto was impressed with my color sense, so he asked if I wanted to work together with him.

Eighteen years ago. Goto, you would have been twenty one at that time?

Goto: Yes. Just then, I had completed a job for 150,000 yen, and I had that much in cash on me. So, I said to Oda. “I’ve got 150,000 yen here. With that much money, we can go independent. Let’s open an electric guitar studio.” (laughs)

And Oda, you went along with it.

Oda: I’m even more easygoing than Goto is. He told me his idea, and I just thought, “Oh, OK. If he says it’ll be alright, then I guess it’ll work out.” And we started a little live-in studio, and now eighteen years have gone by. Even now, the three of us, myself, Goto, and his wife are still living together here.

I see. You’ve lived a life I can’t even imagine. Now, finally, this is a magazine about “monozukuri” (the art of making things), so could you leave us with a word about monozukuri?

Goto: I’m making things by hand, but I don’t think that putting love into every step of my manufacturing process is the way to make sure something good is made. I love U2’s Joshua Tree album, but it’s just a plastic disk. That plastic disk is mass manufactured by a machine, and you know there hasn’t been any love put into making it. But that album is full of love. That’s why I think that what is inside is what counts. Take Apple Computer, for example. They put so much care into their designs, and I feel love from that. But the computer itself is just a thing. Our guitars are the same in that they’re just things. But we can design a form that makes the person holding it look cool, we can make it produce a good sound, and make it smooth to the touch. I put love into that stuff. That’s what I think is important.

At Jersey Girl Homemade Guitars