This article originally appeared in Acoustic Guitar magazine. © String Letter Publishing, all rights reserved.
Lakewood Guitars
Located about an hour north of Frankfurt, Germany, on the Autobahn, the tranquil university town of Giessen hardly seems like a fitting center for European guitar making. But the country's largest acoustic guitar manufacturer makes its home here amid century-old farmhouses and cobblestone streets. Housed in the three-story building of a former cigar factory, Lakewood Guitars (Zum Bahnhof 6a, 35394 Giessen, Germany; [49] 641-43038; fax [49] 641-491398; www.lakewoodguitars.com) has been building guitars since 1986.
Success didn't come overnight for the company's founder, Martin Seeliger. Seeliger had to contend with the same difficulties as U.S. guitar makers--developing his own design, learning to run a business, and getting his instruments into the hands of skilled players--and also overcome public perception in Germany, where steel-string guitars aren't the omnipresent folk instruments they are in America. In order to legally build and sell instruments in Germany, one must obtain a master title, which means serving a lengthy apprenticeship before setting up shop. (An unwillingness to go through this process encouraged a young C.F. Martin to leave Markneukirchen in 1833.) Seeliger began studying under Manfred Pletz in 1979, opened his own retail store (where he also repaired instruments) a couple of years later, and finally passed his master exams in the fall of 1984.
Every guitar needs a name, and with optimistic visions of future export, Seeliger flipped through his atlas and stopped at Lakewood, Ohio. "I thought Lakewood really sounded like a steel-string guitar," he recalls, "and neither Americans nor Japanese would have any problems pronouncing it." Although he had built both classicals and steel-strings up to that point, Seeliger decided to focus on dreadnought designs. American guitars were fetching high prices, and his initial goal was to offer a similar but less expensive instrument. His vision quickly grew, however, and he began to optimize his designs and create instruments with a unique voice. Seeliger admires the work of C.F. Martin and Co. ("I'm fascinated by the company's historical significance," he explains, "and they've always been a benchmark for me") and George Lowden ("Lowden is one of the most innovative luthiers, and he brought many new ideas to the industry," says Seeliger). He sought to develop a guitar with an open sound, excellent balance, quick response, and rich harmonic content.
Lakewood's line of guitars has grown to include auditorium-size models (available in 12- and 14-fret versions) as well as grand concerts and jumbos, and all of his instruments share some basic design elements. The guitars' bodies feature a pronounced wedge shape, where the body is thinner near the heel of the neck than it is at the endblock. They also have more pronounced arches in their tops and backs than most flattops. "The arch allows me to have a lot of strength while using thinner woods," explains Seeliger. He also believes that the arched tops and backs are key elements in his instruments' sound. Although the first Lakewoods used dovetail neck joints, today Seeliger uses bolt-on necks. Instruments are available in many different tonewoods, from plain mahogany to highly flamed maple or figured Brazilian rosewood. Occasionally Seeliger experiments with unusual tonewood combinations, such as cypress and spruce (the woods used in traditional flamenco guitars). Custom options include various inlays, slotted headstocks, a wide variety of neck profiles, and cutaways, and all models except for the auditorium are available as 12-strings.
With the help of his 14 employees (some of whom work part-time), Seeliger will build about 750 guitars this year. Considering that the company's first CNC machine had just arrived at the time of my visit and was months away from being a useful tool, this is an impressive accomplishment. While handwork prevails in the Lakewood shop, Seeliger also depends on countless ingenious jigs and fixtures. The company was also the first European manufacturer of musical instruments to use a UV-cured polyester finish, supporting Seeliger's goal of merging old-world traditions with 21st-century technologies.
A short 14 years after the company's humble beginnings, Lakewood guitars can be found in the hands of fingerstyle virtuosos Peter Finger and Ulli Bögershausen, singer-songwriter Julian Dawson, and even rock stars like Dave Matthews and Richie Blackmore. Seeliger's newest development is a line of nylon-string guitars designed to appeal to crossover players. With prices starting at $1,100 U.S. (for a D-1 model), a new direct distribution plan, and an increasing number of U.S. dealers, Lakewood guitars are sure to become a regular sight in more and more picking circles.
-Teja Gerken