Randy Lucas Guitars

Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine

By David McCarty

Without a doubt, bluegrass guitarists now live in the "Golden Age" of fine guitar making. Back when the music originated, Martin, and to a lesser extent Gibson, were the only choices for a professional grade flattop guitar suitable to the dynamic demands of backing up a full bluegrass band. 

Today, in comparison, guitarists face an almost bewildering choice between old favorites like Martin, new large-scale production companies like Taylor, small shop builders like Collings, Bourgeois, Santa Cruz and others, and true custom builders building just one instrument at a time. Never before has the bluegrass guitarist had the opportunity to pick out just exactly the guitar that best conveys the sound and soul of their picking.

This abundance also means the guitarist must distinguish between the merely competent builder and those who truly bring passion and extraordinary knowledge and craftsmanship to their instruments. Often, it's not an easy process.

When Hope, Indiana's Randy Lucas decided to enter the already crowded field of guitar builders, he knew he could only succeed by chiseling out a niche for himself based on his own passion for perfection. He also knew he'd need as much input from dealers and musicians as possible to refine his own ideas. So with only the sixth guitar he'd ever built in hand, Lucas made the trek from Southern Indiana to Nashville to meet briefly with vintage guitar guru George Gruhn seeking only an honest appraisal of his work. "I wasn't fishing for compliments, I just wanted some real, honest criticism," Randy explains. George scrutinized it thoroughly, then asked how many guitars Lucas had built until then. "When I said this was my sixth guitar, he just sat there real silent," Randy recalls now with a laugh. When he got over his shock that someone with so little experience could have built a guitar that sounded and looked that good, Gruhn opened up to Lucas, pointing out finer points he should begin working on and helping him understand the business end of marketing custom guitars. Gruhn also told the budding luthier that he'd carry Lucas guitars at world-famous Gruhn Guitars, a landmark step in helping Lucas gain credibility and public awareness. Another key person in that process was Stan Werbin, owner of the Midwest's great acoustic guitar store, Elderly Instruments in East Lansing, Michigan, who also saw Lucas Guitars as something special that he should offer his discriminating clientele. "When I think of my dream list of stores where I would have wanted my guitars sold, it would be those two stores," Lucas says enthusiastically. "I feel really blessed by them saying they'd love to sell my guitars. I think a lot of them for that," he says. Like nearly everyone who makes their living in the music industry, Randy Lucas has gone through an evolution. "My first interest was studying to become a mechanical engineer, but that sort of fell by the wayside when I had aspirations of becoming a musician. Then I moved on to guitar collector, to restorer and finally to builder. It's sort of evolved over the last 10 years," he explained. 

Living on Long Island, NY and collecting old Martins, Lucas met John Monteleone, now regarded as one of the premier mandolin and archtop guitar builders in the world. "I spent two years picking his brain," Randy said. The two never worked together, he adds, but whenever Monteleone would work on one of Lucas' vintage Martins, Lucas used the time to ask questions, observe and learn from the best. After being laid off from his East Coast job in mechanical design, Randy moved back to Indiana and took a part-time position as a mechanical designer. The change allowed him to pursue guitar repair on weekends and evenings. He quickly built a reputation around the region for his meticulous repair work. Then in 1993, the shifting economy again led to a downsizing from his regular job. He and his wife faced the decision of his life.

"After a lot of prayerful consideration and a lot of long talks with my wife, we decided that I had to try it now if I was ever going to. So I did it, and I haven't regretted it since," Lucas says today. "It's one of the most exciting job changes I could have made. I love my job!" He spent his first summer as a full-time luthier repairing and studying more vintage guitars, going beyond just measuring basic dimensions to recording tap tones, analyzing where the instrument had failed structurally, how it differed from others of the same model and what impact those differences may have had on its sound. 

Lucas' background in mechanical engineering and design helped him better understand the instrument's fundamental design and function. He went beyond schematic drawings and traditional construction to examine the complex interaction of wood against wood. He eagerly learned all he could about how tone woods act, how they age, how manufacturing processes such as sawing and drying can bring out the best a piece of wood has to offer. It was an odyssey that continues today and will last his entire career, he says flatly. 

"My goal from the outset of getting into this craft was to build guitars, not be a repairman. I have a deep love for the sound of vintage Martin guitars from 1928 to 1945; that was the sound I was going for and that was the design I chose to start with, That was my textbook," Lucas explains. "Actually getting your hands on the instruments and the wood, that's what's really important. It's like trying to learn to swim by reading about it; getting in the water is where you really learn to swim." Learning to swim not just as someone who can build a great guitar, but as a businessman who could earn a living producing top-quality instruments also led Lucas to take every opportunity to put his instruments into the hands of great guitarists to get feedback and recommendations. At festivals around the country, Randy would patiently wait backstage until a top professional
had finished their set, then politely ask if they'd like to see his guitar and give him an opinion. Most said yes, and nearly all gave him strong encouragement and praise for his work.

"I've never been a brave person," he admits, "but I did force myself to talk to people like Watt Rice. So I did go to several people I've admired as players and gotten their reaction on what they liked and what they didn't like. I'm real open to feedback."

Through these associations and his love of the Martin dreadnought guitars, most of Randy's instruments have ended up in the hands of bluegrass flatpicking guitarists so far, although he does remain interested in building smaller-bodied guitars more suited to folk music and fingerstyle players. But it is his explosively loud, immensely rich and tone-filled dreadnought guitars that have gained the widest acceptance for the fledgling Randy Lucas Custom Instruments. One of his prize clients is an old friend, Kenny Smith, who now plays guitar with the immensely popular Lonesome River Band. Randy first met Kenny while the guitarist was working at Gallagher Guitars, and Lucas had no idea he was even a player. "We talked mostly about guitar construction," Randy explains. Then while walking through the halls of the 1995 SPGMA convention in Nashville, "I heard this amazing player, and it was Kenny. I was just blown away." A year later, while delivering another guitar to a client, Kenny had the chance to play it and was so impressed he ordered one for himself. That guitar, which Smith wanted to use as his stage instrument, was made without scalloped braces to avoid the typical booming bass response of most vintage dreadnought guitars which so often overpowers a microphone.

Customizing guitar design according to a customer's needs is central to Lucas' guitar making philosophy. His love for innovation as a means of expressing his creative side can at times be in conflict with his great respect for the tradition of American guitar making. "I feel like I'm painted into a corner if I have to make a guitar exactly like a vintage guitar," he explained. As a result, the Lucas guitar design has evolved slightly to incorporate Randy's own thoughts and experiences with vintage and contemporary guitars. His guitars utilize a greater neck angle, which adds tension to the top for more volume. To compensate for that added stress, his bridges are thicker and saddles are taller than usual.

Lucas also adjusts his bracing to better manage the additional top tension. The result, he has found, is a more balanced-sounding instrument than many prized vintage examples.

Currently, Lucas Custom Instrument's model lineup includes Martin-style dreadnought and OM guitars in Brazilian rosewood and mahogany, as well as a Jumbo model based on the popular Gibson J-185. "I'm a jumbo fanatic," he agrees. "What I want to do is take the J-185 beyond where it was in its heyday." Other additions to his catalog include a 12-fret 000 model and a Gibson Advanced Jumbo design guitar. Most recently, he has added an F-5 mandolin built to the precise specifications of a 1923 Gibson Lloyd Loar F-5 which he lovingly measured and studied as the template for his own design. For more information on Randy Lucas Custom Instruments, call 1-812-342-3093.

Annual production for Lucas is only about 30 guitars a year, so quality remains absolutely unimpaired by any demand to turn out guitars too quickly. Like many other small builders, Lucas Guitars are built in batches of six,
with two from each batch going to Gruhn Guitars and another two to Elderly Instruments. Those four guitars, he explains, are standard models, giving him two guitars per batch which can be built to customer specifications.
Randy also continues doing some repair and restoration work, such as the conversion of two Martin C-2 archtop guitars into 000-42-style instruments for a Japanese collector. He's also finished a new 1,500 square-foot modern workshop which to house wood storage, construction and instrument finishing facilities. "My wife is teasing me now that the shop is better than my house," Randy said with a laugh.

Looking at the instrument making industry as a whole, Lucas believes he was in the right place at the right time when he committed to building guitars for a living. "I think we're in the Golden Age of instrument building, both handmade and factory-made, too," he asserts. "The level of craftsmanship, the level of selection out there is the best it's ever been in the history of instrument building. To the consumer, what a great time to buy a guitar!"