In a series of interviews, Lakland would like to explore our origins. Just as a musician's are "Influenced" by other musicians, Lakland has "influences" in bass production - both in design and execution. 

Interview with Ed Reynolds – Master Luthier

"Ed Reynolds is one the best Luthiers (guitar makers) in the business. We have used Ed's methods with regards to all aspects of our US manufacturing since our inception. We have also hired Ed as a consultant to help us with our production methods. I have asked Ed to be brutally honest. I gave him the questions and what you see here are his thoughts, I did not edit any of this." - Dan Lakin (November 2008)

When and where did you first start working as a luthier?

In the summer of '73, I got my first job at a local music store on Chicago 's north side as a repairman.  Before I started actually "working" as a repairman, I practiced for a few years on "reject guitars".  Prior to that, I'd had 3 bad jobs on my guitars from supposedly qualified repair people. So , I  bought some guitars from a local distributor that were too messed up to be able to be sold retail, and  I would practice on them. I must have screwed up 6 guitars before I even learned to pull frets. It didn't matter, since I'd paid $5 for each reject or "junk" guitar. Understand, there were no books on the market (as there are a "ton of" now). There were no teachers to be found locally, and no internet info, so I "muddled through" for a few years until I got to the point where I was satisfied with my own work on my own guitars, then word of mouth brought a few people to my door, and then with a few skills under my belt, I got hired at that local music store, the "Guitar Emporium", a rather unsavory place, as I came to find out. Anyway; "Luthier" defines a person who builds musical instruments, not someone who does repairs. I became a luthier in '76, when I built my 3rd guitar.  (The first two made it no further than the garbage can.) 

You are known for your fret work.  Where did you learn and or develop your methods ?

I'll give you a roundabout answer, I learned the approach to all my work from a Jedi Knight.  After a few years of working on my own, I got good enough to be employed at a shop in Chicago called Wooden Music. (gone now.)  A day that stands out in my memory is the day I spent 1/2 hour trying to level a neck surface with a wooden plane. Steven Ivanovich (The "Jedi", and a master from old school Violin making traditions) who worked there, then came over to where I was working, took the plane out of my hands, quickly adjusted it with a hammer and took 3 swipes at the neck and handed the plane back to me and told me (in broken English) that the neck was straight. Skeptically, I put a machinist's straightedge on the neck, and found that I could see no light. ANYWHERE. It was as if  Steve was saying "Use the force, Luke". I was humbled in that moment, but I also learned what the legend of the old world craftsperson is really about, and what I had to aspire to.  I also learned that to "reach out with your feelings Luke", focus, and intuit and "get into" what's going on is what produces the "magic" results.

We could also get off the "mystical railroad" here, and call it just plain paying attention to things as you do the job. As for "being known for my fretwork", I just pay attention to what each neck says to me and what each customer needs. When you are in the repair business, you come to learn that all necks from 100 + manufacturers don't flex the same. You learn to feel how much  flex "give" each neck has. When you can do that, you can, with some degree of accuracy predict what will happen under string tension. The "flex" on a 1959 335 neck is nothing like that of a 1962 335. The negative of this way of learning is that it takes a long time to learn to feel that while doing repairs on many types of instruments . ... Or does it? (Maybe that was just me.) The positive of that is when you DO learn it , you get really fast at your work (Ivanovich aside) and it helps your ability to problem-solve in a lot of areas. As to my methods on fretwork, and where I learned them; I had no real teacher; I experimented and took mental notes. I made mistakes and took notes. I got something right and took notes. I thought about stuff. Today, I have no single approach or method to fretwork. I prefer to let the flex of each neck and the player's style tell me what style of fret job to do. In my book, a good repairman does that. In production, companies such as Lakland and Collings have the luxury of consistent high quality wood, so one method of fretting is all they need to know. "Lucky bastards".  That's just a joke, I like a challenge. I like "upgrading" instruments. A funny thing, the guy I learned the most from was Ivanovich, who won the world's fair of musical instrument making contests in Mittenwald Germany before WW2. I just watched him work. He couldn't speak enough English to impart his approach, nor could he do a fret job to save his life. So it seems that focus and "using the force" (paying attention) are still my "methods".  

I have heard many of your customers bring you a brand new guitar or bass to refret.  Why are your fret jobs better than the manufacturers stock  jobs?

There are a number of reasons. Mostly it's because the largest well known manufacturers do not level (straighten) their fingerboards adequately before they fret their guitars. Some of the larger manufacturers put the frets in the fingerboard before gluing the board to the neck. In that case , even IF the neck and fingerboard were straight and true before they were glued together, the water based glue they use expands both the neck and board differently, and they are not straight and true afterwards, This results in the manufacturers having to try to compensate for discrepancies created in the construction process by filing the frets in an attempt to achieve a straight and level playing surface. That in turn leaves some frets high and some frets low. I don't consider that acceptable. 

Unless the leveling-to-compensate job is done by a precision machine like a Plek, or a team of very competent craftsmen at the point of final setup (rarely done) the player who buys the instrument will need at least a fret mill to level the playing surface. In extreme cases where the fingerboard is "miles away" from straight; it means a refret is necessary from day one. There are other issues, such as poorly seated frets, that make the playing surface out-of-level. Some frets aren't crowned well, and are flat on top, causing intonation issues. Some manufacturers install small frets and then spray lacquer over them. They call it a "thin" finish. I'm usually appalled at the excessive thickness of such "thin" finishes, as it reduces the useable fret height, when that "thin" finish is sprayed on over the frets. When I refret those instruments, I install the frets AFTER I level the board and spray the finish. Mostly, I see faults in these production shortcuts, because the end cost of the guitar to the player is higher than if the manufacturer had used more player-friendly construction practices in the first place. Sometimes, a customer will buy a new guitar and then bring it to me because he/she wants a higher fret, or a different radius, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

In all refrets I do, I level the fingerboard so it's straight and true, and pay attention to an even radius, which results in me doing a VERY light mill after the guitar or bass is fretted , (the fretwire itself is not 100 % consistent) and then I just crown the frets right, do the fret bevel so it doesn't "eat up" useable fingerboard width, t hen I round the fret edges, and do the rest of the job right.  I don't consider it "rocket science", or "genius craftsmanship" at all. It's just paying attention to what you are doing and leaving no stone unturned. "Focus".

 To be clear,  in the 70's and 80's I would consistently refret about every new guitar that came off the line. Nowadays, there ARE companies such as Lakland, Collings, P.R.S. Sadowsky, and other smaller companies that DO put out a darn good fret job, which I find little or no problems with. This is a fairly recent development. 

Lakland has used some of your methods, are they doing it correctly ?

 I'd have to say "yes" to that. If I work on a U.S.A. Lakland these days, I'm going to find very little to improve on it. Fretwork and electronic execution are perfect, or very near it, in all cases. Body weight and neck joints are always well within what I'd approve. I do disagree with only one idea, and that's the location of the battery compartment.  I feel it slightly interrupts the sonic "link" between the neck and bridge. The pickup routs already do that. I'd move the battery back into the control box, as in the original design, or  I'd put it offset to the line between the bridge and the neck. That's my only "beef" at this time. It's a minor thing, but it bugs me. 

You were the first to offer the MM/J style electronics design. When did you first do this and why did you do this?

I don't know if I was absolutely the first, but I had never seen that pickup configuration before using it myself. It was in ‘ 79, or at the latest '81. Like all my "innovations", I just listened to what players wanted (mostly session players), thought about it, and tried to come up with ways to give them that. At the time I first "thought up" the MM/J approach, there was nothing on the market that gave players the APPLICABLE flexibility of sound they desired. There were basses w/neck-thru designs, big brass bridges/nuts and EQ that'd boost 16 db in the wrong frequency and Q areas, but nothing that the session players I served would use, because the sound wouldn't fit in the pocket. The short answer is: The players "wanted something more; or "wanted it all" to put it another way. I like to solve problems, so I tried that approach, and it met w/approval, so I did more of it. I worked with Bartolini a lot about making those pickups get a good single coil sound as well as the MM sound. 

I should mention  one inspiring guy as an example: A Chicago session player named Bill Lanphier. That guy had me make a 5-string P-bass setup in which the g/d-string pickup was 2 and 1/2" closer to the neck than the e/b pickup. And for that bass, it worked! That kind of input opened up the boundaries of my own creativity. The players with "big ears" and imagination continue to push the envelope and enlighten me. 

With regards to bass, who makes the best pickups and preamp in your experience .

The answer is : "No-one". The "why" of that is connected to the style of the bassist, and what he's trying to do, and what his gig is. If you want Jaco's tone , you don't use flatwounds on a rosewood board, etc. The short answer of "best" for me are Bartolini's bass products, due to a good useable articulate even sound, even in hum-cancelled pickups, and a number of preamps that fit various needs and preferences for a wide array of musical instruments. I used the MM/J configuration to fit the needs of session players who wanted a variety of useable sounds. I have modified his NTCT preamps to give me 4-band EQ with high and low mid controls in some basses I made, for the same reason. However, if a bassist came to me and said he wasn't cutting through in his band and that his guitarist played a Les Paul (with a lot of low-"mudrange") and his drummer played his skins tuned low, and his singer was a baritone, and there was a keyboard player with a busy left hand, I might advise; "Get a Danelectro , it won't crowd your band".  I'd do that because the frequencies that I'd normally like to hear from a bass would have already been filled up by the other instruments/vocals in that band, and there would be no "sonic real estate" left for the low/low-mid peak defined bass tones I like to hear.  I'm sure that's why Lakland has branched out into other sounds/pickups recently. 

Look; Since I'm asked to be completely honest; I like what Lakland does. I like what Sadowsky does. They both build basses that have applicable musicality to them. I run across good basses in lots of brands, it's just that there not consistently good basses from some brands, so it's hard to comment on "the best". I don't like many boutique and neck-thru basses. To me, a majority of them take up the sonic real estate where other instruments find their "home" and that just don't sound musical to my ears. I feel the envelope is wrong for "pocket" playing. The body is just too stiff, and it sounds like it.

To me; the upright bass has the most "punch" and immediate decay after the initial attack. THAT defines the note, so the bassist and the drummer can "lock in". However; the limitations the upright has ( EQ, size) do not often work for the sonically "crowded" ensembles of rock and modern music. Smart builders, who build basses for the widest range of styles and applications know this, and try to get at least some of the the punch inherent in an upright, AND the EQ, to make a great bass work for a variety of types of music.

In the end , there is a guitar and bass for every application you can imagine. It seems that "best" only applies to the proficiency of the execution of an idea that fits the bill. 

What major manufacturers have you worked with and or consulted with during your career?

I don't consider that I have worked "for" anyone in particular. My first company connection was with Ibanez. They wanted to fund me and have me be the figurehead of the "Reynolds Guitar Company" long ago and they built a few prototypes of my design. I declined their offer, but I saved the blueprints they made me, as souvenirs. I've formally consulted for Lakland, Bartolini Sperzel and Collings, but I also briefly assisted David Grissom and Paul Smith over the David Grissom signature model. I informally gave a few of my ideas to Eric Johnson and Roscoe Beck as to their Fender signature models which are incorporated in those models today, but I never actually talked to anyone at Fender, outside of talking to one guy on the phone for a few minutes, who was building Roscoe a prototype. Also , maybe someone else had the same ideas as I did. It's hard to define where informally imparting concepts and knowledge ends, and where "being a consultant" begins. Lakland and Collings were my longest on-site formal consultation jobs. The Collings thing lasted over a year. I made good friends in both places, and happily, those relationships continue. It should be said that wherever a consultant goes, that person walks away knowing more than he did when he arrived, because a lot of it is on-the-spot problem solving, using prior experience. 

Do any new manufacturers – acoustic or electric that “do it  right”?

Complex question. A lot of companies are "doing it right" for the market they want to attract, due to computer controlled production.  For example , a good sounding /good playing solid top acoustic guitar for $350  wasn't a reality in '78. So, in that sense; the lower level manufacturers are doing it "more" right than in the past.  

 Now; if you're asking "Who are the companies that are cutting edge ?” t hey are many. I don't limit them to instrument manufacturers only. Bartolini is a nut who's solved many problems for me with the initial MM/J thing, and is a very innovative guy. P.R.S. raised the quality level of mass produced guitars beyond the status quo at the time (1985). Collings acoustic guitars just about always knocked my socks off. I own a C.J. that I call my "piano with a neck".  Their electrics are great too. My bass has the similar electronics Lakland uses 'cause they work for that bass.

This is a hard question, because I could fill a page with names of innovative folks. Overall , i t's the guys and companies that are "hungry" and curious for knowledge and the next innovation that keep it rolling. It's what Bill Collings calls "fun".  I agree. Lakland, Collings, P.R.S.. Sadowsky,  Bartolini (and many many more) all had visions of what was needed to fit the bill of musicians across the spectrum, and they all went beyond the "status quo" when it was (or is) their time to do so, and they all succeeded in filling a void, a need, and a niche. Remember Floyd Rose? Not a lot of folks use that stuff now, but what an inventive guy! There are great small guitar builders like Mike Stevens who founded the Fender custom shop, and Kim Schwartz; an inventive builder, who's also a yoga master in New Mexico. Bill Ussery makes an amp that IS "the stuff"! Chad Underwood "gets" the relic thing (visually AND sonically) like no other (ask David Grissom or Paul Smith). 

There are lots I can't mention due to space available.  

Hats off to all you guys; you are the innovators, the problem solvers and the engines of progress. 

How did you become involved with Lakland?

I had been training Hugh Mcfarland to take my place as "the" most in-demand repairman in Chicago ( which I was) in '89 as I prepared to leave for Austin, Texas. During that process, Hugh began asking me a lot of questions as to bass design and construction and I became curious as to why. He told me he was working with a guy who wanted to start building basses. That's how I met Dan Lakin. Eventually; I was asked to come to Lakland to help refine aspects of the design and production processes during the initial stages of the company, and to teach some techniques. So, I guess I began my association with Lakland by my time spent training Dan's old partner, Hugh Mcfarland.

What are your future career plans?

I just finished building a prototype touch guitar for Markus Reuter; an accomplished player (and visionary designer, as I came to learn) who lives in Germany. That was fun. I could do more of that kind of thing. I want to build some guitars of  my own design next year, and maybe consult for other companies. I did not know how much of an effective team player I was till I consulted for Collings, and I guess that showed me that there are still parts of me that I don't yet know. (Maybe that's a good thing). I like to do repairs for folks I like local folks like Joe Ely,  Monte Montgomery, Redd Volkaert, and so many others. It's just always a pleasure when they drop by my shop. I plan to continue calling folks at Lakland or Collings and harass them with my latest stupid jokes, play some music, hear more good music, heckle my friends/customers when they play, hang with Eileen and some good friends, finish helping raise (Eileen's) Vivian, finish some songs, record them, visit Mike/Alice and Quinten, and Dan/Becky and Len, Grace/Billy, Bill U, Gary C, "The Bois" and friends, and after the guitar work, not take myself too seriously.