Circa Guitars Shop Tour
posted by Jason Verlinde
Before setting out on his own as Circa Guitars, Maine’s John Slobod worked alongside two of the world’s best luthiers: Julius Borges and Dana Bourgeois. Now, out of a funky, multi-use building in Portland, Maine (one of his neighbors down the hall is ukulele whiz Joel Eckhaus, the proprietor of Earnest Instruments), Slobod himself is building some of the nicest Martin-inspired guitars available today. As a one-man shop, Slobod focuses on just a few shapes: OMs, 00s and dreadnoughts; all are impressive. "The 12-fret 00 is almost the perfect design for the way I build," he says. "That model, no matter how you slice it, always comes out great. If customers come to me and they don’t know what they want, I sometimes steer them into a 00 because you can do so much with it. Because it’s small, you can push it ... it doesn’t get too sensitive like a 000 can."
During my visit, the luthier’s workshop boasted a ton of great tone woods, an immense LP collection (nice to see a working turntable amidst all the power tools!) and just one finished guitar (an older Bourgeois). When a new Circa gets finished, I guess its lucky owner wants it ASAP. Besides their famed tone and playability, each Circa creation boasts incredible aesthetics … looking at these guitars reminds me of looking at Chris Craft powerboats, designs that somehow look both traditional and modern at the same time. For more information on these guitars, visit his site here.
Slobod taps a future guitar back. When he does this, he's not looking for a specific tone; he's feeling the amount of vibration against his finger. Compared to some modern builders, who go for ultra-stiff backs, Slobod likes a little flex. "I look at the thing as an organic whole," he says. "It’s a box where the string energy from the top is setting the back in motion, as well."
Some of the forms that Slobod uses on his guitars, and his Fox side bender.
Slobod has a healthy surplus of necks ready for future instruments.
Red spruce is the wood of choice for Slobod's braces. As the guitar gets closer to completion, he'll hand shape each brace. "The number three and four braces on my OOs and OMs can be pretty small," he says. "But they’re plenty strong."
Guitar bodies awaiting finish. "I actually really dig the voice I’ve been getting out of the dreads," he says. "I’ve been building the way dreads were voiced in the early '30s."
Honduran mahogany is standard on his guitars, but Slobod can employ a variety of tone woods. From curly "Beeswing" mahogany to cocobolo and Indian rosewood. On Indian rosewood, Slobod says, "It's cheap, it's quartersawn, it sands easily and they sound fantastic. I just sleep better at night building a guitar out of Indian rosewood."
Gorgeous 42-style pearl inlay.
The devil is in the details and the back strip on this future Circa guitar certainly has details.
Doc Watson presides over the festivities.
Gotta love a guitar builder who still raids thrift stores for music. Slobod boasts a large and diverse LP collection.
Slobod uses hide glue for all of his braces. "What I love about hide glue is that it gives you a certain organic feeling to the tone," he says. "It’s hard to describe but when you hear it, you know it."
Looking down on his workspace from the upstairs loft.
Slobod with a Bourgeois guitar he keeps around the shop.
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