Luthier John Decker : Guitar Master Works

About John Decker and Guitar Master Works from http://www.guitarmasterworks.com/

John specializes in classical guitars made from exotic woods. John makes only classical guitars, very traditional in shape – without angled necks, bumps on the soundboard, “alternate” soundholes, or even cut-aways. However, he prefer to incorporate his radical approach to soundboard, neck and peghead design – all in the interest of making guitars with his intended tone and playability.

John was trained as an aeronautical engineer (B.Sc. & Engineering Degree from MIT) and a physicist (Ph.D. from Cambridge University), and spent most of his career as a technical manager, primarily in the semiconductor and aerospace industries. During this time he also founded and ran a small company making infrared spectrometers, and came to Hawaii in 1981 to manage the Air Force's optical observatory on Haleakala. After two years, John again set up his own company, Kuau Technology Ltd., this time working on optical instruments operated by small hand-held computers.

Back then, John played classical guitar and got frustrated with keeping a fine wood guitar in one piece in Hawaii's hot, humid climate. So, he started a back-burner project to make a composite-materials guitar -- not, at first, for tone, but for stability and water-resistance. Somewhat to his surprise, "graphite" (carbon fibers in an epoxy resin matrix) turned out to have really good acoustic properties, and after ten years of R&D and Manufacturing Engineering, John set up a small factory to make RainSong Graphite Guitars, which is owned by KTL. John research lead him owning several patents. RainSong’s web site includes a page, written by John wrote explaining for the layman "the carbon sound".

Guitarmasterworks was founded in the late 1980s (originally as JAD Guitars – theguitarmasterworks name came in 2004) as John's guitar-making venue. The RainSong factory has now moved to the Seattle, WA, area, and John's son-in-law runs the company's day-to-day operations. Since retirement, John does some management consulting for nonprofits as Strategic Impact Unlimited, but primarily he creates guitars under the name guitarmasterworks.

John has licensed back his patented soundboard technology from RainSong, a “braceless” design somewhat similar to the now popular “double soundboard”. For guitarmasterworks’ wood guitars, this involves a VERY thin soundboard backed up by Nomex honeycomb and a HYPER-THIN backing plate.





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