Can an instrument change your life? Well, I am a believer that music is one of the most powerful forces in the world and you create it on instruments, so yes, I think an instrument can change your life for the better.
As a musician, you probably spend a great deal of time with your guitar, or fiddle, or (insert any other instrument). It becomes an extension of you. Think of Steve Ray’s number 1 strat, or Chris Thile’s Gibson Loar mandolin…these are things that allow us as artists to speak and often times become what a fan will identify as a part of you and your sound.
Two years ago I got in touch with Max and Lauri Girouard of Girouard Mandolins. I had extensively researched and researched mandolin builders online. Played a $12,000 Nugget F-5 at a local shop, owned really bad beginner mandolins and was playing on what I thought was a fairly decent intermediate level instrument. I’d been playing mandolin seriously for about a year and a half or so (dabbling in it before) but getting better each day I picked it up. When I initially got in touch with them they were happy and eager to answer all of my questions. At one point we were even discussing an apprenticeship of sorts where I would head up there and help around the shop while building my own mandolin alongside them. Well, when the old lady saw the “every weekend” schedule for the next 6 months, the brakes were put on, so instead I went to visit Max and Lauri about building me a custom A-5 mandolin.
We talked feel, sound, tone, playability, and if you look at their Facebook page and all the gorgeous photos, you may think that the look comes first because all of their instruments are absolutely stunning, but it was the last thing discussed. Despite the mandolin family instruments coming out of their shop being some of the most gorgeous instruments I have ever seen, Max and Lauri’s first goal is to provide folks with an instrument that they want to play for two reasons: the instrument’s playability (duh) and the tone. If your mandolin plays like butter and the sounds coming from it are just as smooth and desired, then of course you are going to want to pick it up again and again and play for hours. The care they put into each instrument speaks volumes not just about them as business folks and builders, but also as people. When you know you have genuine people making consumer goods, it makes you feel better. Whether thats the food you eat, or the car you drive, or a mandolin that you create music with.
The conversation we had was based around my current instrument. I brought it along with me and we talked about what I liked, what I didn’t like. I played the shop instrument that was an early build of Max’s (I believe at the time it was the “red Devil” Garcia model in the shop) and immediately said to myself “wait, so THIS is how playing a mandolin is supposed to feel?”. It was a moment of bliss and realization that perhaps I had been doing it wrong in the past. In playing my own instrument alongside this one I could say: well I like the tone and choppiness here better but need clarity up the neck. So Max would say “well we can use big leaf maple for the back and tight grained red spruce on top for a balanced tone”. Or I have smaller hands, so a slimmer neck profile is kind of what I am thinking and upon my second trip up when the instrument was “in the white” Max was able to take a bit off the neck in the moment, ACTUALLY creating a custom instrument that was indeed custom, just for me.
Once we had all that “tone and playability” stuff out of the agenda, it was on to making this thing look beautiful 
and into Lauri’s very capable hands. The instruments they have churned out in the past are all over the board as far as finish is concerned, but one thing is a constant: they are always brilliant and beautiful instruments that turn many heads when you see them. At this point, Lauri was just finishing up a blue mandolin for an order to one of the online sites and man, it was tempting, but I wanted something classic. It was a really tough decision as the red hues from some of their work is mesmerising, the pumpkin tops are unique but a really cool throwback kind of a thing too, a blacktop and burst back, man, so many choices that are so wonderfully pulled off. But a classic look was what I was going for, and they delivered on that…man oh man did they deliver.
In the end what I got from this experience was something I will treasure for the rest of my life. I rid myself of scroll envy (for the time being) and I was playing more because the instrument I was playing on made me a better player. If people have an opportunity to have an instrument made custom for them, I would surely recommend doing so. If you are a mandolinist, then there is no one else to make that mandolin for you aside from Max and Lauri Girouard. After the delivery of my mandolin Max and Lauri are still in touch to see how she is opening up, they are always open to visits and to do a quick set up on the mandolin on her birthdays. The relationship you build with people like this isn’t a “here’s your item, now scram its over and done with”, this is a lifetime kind of a friendship and relationship that I am damn lucky to have.
These are special people creating special instruments. Two extremely talented and wonderful humans that have brought a great deal of joy to my life through their work. I cannot wait to see what comes next (and somewhere down the line add another Girouard to my instrument family).
Pictures don’t really do these things justice, but hit their website to check some of the work that they do for a drool worthy couple of minutes to break up your day. I mean, seriously, WOW.
http://www.girouardmandolins.com/