THE WORKSHOP
The workshop is in Tinténiac, near Rennes, Saint-Malo, Dinan and Combourg.
I'm offering setup, maintenance and repair services on every kind of acoustic and electric plucked string instruments. I also handcraft bespoke instruments : guitars, bouzoukis, mandolins, acoustics and electrics.
You have a custom project in mind ? Please contact me here.
Opening hours
MY BACKGROUND
I have often been asked why I wanted to become a luthier...
When I was a kid, I used to dismantle and (try) to reassemble everything around me to know how it worked on the inside. Quite logically, my first guitars had to suffer the same fate. With the help of lutherie books and the boom of online forums, I'm learning how to setup and mod my guitars and those of my friends. While completing my acoustics and vibrations college degree in Saint-Etienne, I'm making my first instrument : a ukulele from a Stewmac kit. That was it. My mind was set. In 10 years I'll be a guitar maker.
I then had the opportunity to spend 2 years working with Philippe Berne, un luthier formidable et une personne encore plus formidable. Il me transmet tout son savoir sans retenu. J’apprends avec lui les réglages et réparations, mais surtout la fabrication d’une variété impressionnante d’instruments à cordes. Il m’enseigne notamment comment débiter et sécher les bois pour la lutherie, dessiner un instrument, et surtout comment créer le son recherché. Il me transmet également son goût pour les bois locaux, souvent mal aimés par les luthiers.
The following years, I dabbled in repairing and making instruments, while working full time in order to prepare my future establishment.
13 ans plus tard, en 2019 j’ouvre mon atelier à Tinténiac en Bretagne romantique.
Pour « visiter » mon atelier, visionnez la vidéo ci-dessus. J’y parle de mon travail et de ma vision de la lutherie.
Woods, glues, varnishes
I try to build instruments with a minimal impact on the environment. That's why I mainly use French or European woods, and make mostly plastic-free instruments.
Tops are made from European spruce (Jura, Vosges, Romania). Backs and sides are made of walnut, maple, black locust, cherry, apple, pear, etc.
Necks are made from one piece are laminated maple or walnut.
Fingerboards and bridges are still made of ebony or rosewood, but I'm slowly switching to local woods (Service tree (sorbus domesticus), Wild service tree (Sorbus terminalis), pear, etc.).
I also have old stocks of exotic woods that I keep for custom orders (mahogany, Makassar ebony, ziricote, bubinga, etc.).
For instrument making and repairs, I use glues that have been tried and tested for decades (Titebond) or even centuries (hide glue). Those are stable, reversible and non toxic. Sometimes for repairs I have to use modern glues like cyano acrylate (a.k.a. SuperGlue) or epoxy resin. Those glues don't emit VOC once cured.
I mainly French polish my instruments with shellac. This is a natural and harmless product (basically bug poop dissolved in 95% alcohol). It can be used on tableware or toys. Shellac is also the product of choice for classical guitars finishing.
Le vernis gomme laque étant assez fragile, je propose également une finition avec vernis polyuréthane ou cellulosique ; mat, satiné ou brillant.
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