In a decade that has seen a virtual explosion of lutherie, it is easy
to forget about those individuals who have been building custom guitars
for many years. Froggy Bottom Guitars (198 Timson Hill Rd., Newfane,
VT 05345; [802] 348-6665; www.froggybottomguitars.com)
has been going strong ever since Michael Millard started the company
in 1970.
Millard launched his guitar-building career under the tutelage of Michael
Gurian in the late ’60s and was among the first of a new wave of builders
who found success by offering high-quality instruments tailored to musicians’
needs. Although Froggy Bottom now offers more than a dozen standard
models that are distributed by a network of dealers spanning the country,
Millard still enjoys working directly with a customer to build his or
her dream guitar. "My joy in building guitars has always come from dealing
with a sincere player," he says. "It doesn’t matter what the style is;
I want to find a way to make the guitar that they have in their mind’s
ear." To this end, Millard finds that it is crucial to listen to the
player’s desires, rather than trying to prescribe a proven formula.
"We respond to the player, rather than dictating what the player should
want," he says. "As long as I understand a musical reason and underlying
need for certain kinds of tonal qualities or ergonomic considerations,
that’s what we [provide]. We don’t presume to tell somebody why they
should want it this way, when in fact they want it that
way. Who am I? I’m not going to play their guitar for the rest of my
life."
Froggy
Bottom founder Michael Millard.
Although a number of apprentices have passed through the Froggy Bottom
shop over the years, it was mostly a one-man operation until Millard
met Andy Mueller in 1994. Mueller was initially invited to the shop
to learn the craft, but he and Millard soon began working together extensively,
and within a year the two had become business partners. The Froggy Bottom
team has since grown to include luthiers Tucker Barrett and Kipp Krusa,
as well as engraver Petria Mitchell, who is responsible for many of
the guitars’ unique heel-cap designs. Evolving from a one-man shop to
a small production facility that produces about 125 guitars per year
has necessitated some changes, but Millard is quick to point out that
every luthier on his team is able to complete just about any of the
steps involved in building a guitar. "Right now, I’m the only one that
carves necks on a regular basis," says Millard, "but we encourage everybody
to say, ‘Hey, I’d really like to do this.’" During my visit to the rural
Froggy Bottom shop, it quickly became clear that the guitars are truly
the result of a team effort.
Engraved mammoth
ivory heel cap.
A varied line of standard models (starting at $2,760) serves as a starting
points for each custom instrument built by Millard and company. The
line begins with the petite Parlor guitar and 00-size A model, includes
several midsize instruments, and culminates in the Jumbo and Baritone
models. Customers specify neck width, scale length, and whether they
want a cutaway or a 12- or 14-fret neck and select from a variety of
tonewoods, including Indian and Brazilian rosewood, mahogany, maple,
and koa. Millard also likes to use cocobolo, which he compares favorably
to Brazilian rosewood. At least four types of spruce are available for
Froggy Bottom tops, and red spruce (also known as Adirondack spruce)
is the most popular.
Millard is hesitant to give an overarching description of his guitars’
sound, because he feels that the buzzwords used to describe guitars
have been overused. But he does offer that "clarity and tonal complexity"
are the basis for his guitars’ signature sound, and he also adds that
"the most important thing is that different players hear different things."
Guitarists such as fingerstylists Will Ackerman and David Surette, bluesman
Paul Geremia, pop star Duncan Sheik, and singer-songwriter Louise Taylor
are among those players using Froggy Bottom guitars, evidence that the
company is capable of meeting diverse needs.
