Art Chowder July | August 2018, Issue 16 | Page 46
L
ynn’s use of rare and exotic woods
form the hallmark of his instruments,
and some of them originate from quite
unexpected sources. He recalls using
a batch of 1000-year-old redwood,
reclaimed from a sunken dock
found in Lake Pend Oreille, as mere
firewood. On one occasion he heard a
characteristic ringing tone coming from
one of the pieces as he threw it into the
fire. He began listening to the remaining
pieces, each of which exhibited
extraordinary tones — some of which
were lower in pitch and others higher.
Lynn capitalized on these contrasting
qualities to combine the various sections
of wood into a single solid guitar body
that exhibited a solid, well-balanced
tonal quality that a single block just
couldn’t come close to. Apart from the
superb musical properties that these
rare materials exhibited, the beautifully
intricate wood grain patterns offered
each instrument a striking visual appeal,
transforming every guitar into a unique
work of art.
It’s not just ancient submerged wood
Lynn prizes for his creations. Once,
during a delivery of some goods on
a wooden pallet, Lynn recognized
that distinctive “ring” coming from
the lumber that the very pallet was
constructed of. He dismantled it and
assembled all the pieces into a gloriously
resonant guitar body!
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ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE
Essentially Lynn believes that by careful
selection of “musical” wood, a top-notch
guitar can be created from it regardless
of its age or origin. He laughingly
quipped that he’s even built a great
sounding guitar out of an old wooden
toilet seat!
I was fortunate enough to be granted
a tour of Lynn’s two personal guitar
workshops during my visit with him,
both of them veritable Santa’s grottos
for guitarists. Whilst in his saw shop he
pointed me towards a stack of reclaimed
wooden external siding boards and
invited me to pick up several of them,
tap on each one and listen to their
individual “ring” sound.