Michael Schreiner: Modern Day 19th-Century Luthier

I Once Had A Sick Guitar. Not Just Any Guitar, Mind You. This One Is Truly Special. My Instrument Was Made By The French Builder, René Lacôte, In 1823. Paul Pleijsier In The Netherlands, A Classical And Electric Guitar Player, Also A Researcher Of 19th-century Guitars, Tells Me That Although There Is A Substantial Number In Existence, He Has Cataloged And Documented Only 84 Of These Instruments.

By The Early 1800s, Paris Had Become A Center Of Instrument Making And Many Of The Ateliers Churning Out This Newly Popular Instrument Modeled Their Construction After The Instrument’s Coming From Lacôte’s Shop. Of All The Great Instrument Makers Living In Paris At That Time, It Was René Lacôte Who Was Dubbed The “stradivarius Of The Guitar”. He Was A Student And Apprentice To The Famous Pons Family Of Instrument Makers. Joseph Pons, Born In 1776 And Son Of Cesar Pons, Was Commissioned By The Wife Of Napoléon, Empress Marie Louise, To Make A Guitar For Her Favorite Court Musician, Mauro Giuliani.

The Many Lacôte Guitars Remaining Today Are All Different, A Fact That Reveals The Master’s Constant Quest To Improve Performance And Playability, Through Developments In Manufacturing Technique, Innovative Features, And Rare Materials.

I Found My René Lacôte At A Dealer In Rochester Ny. I Tried About A 6 Or 8 Other 19th Century Guitars, Many Without Labels, And Even A Panormo. You Might Call Panormo The London Rival Of Lacote. The Lacôte Was Not In The Greatest Shape, The Victim Of Numerous Dismal Repairs, And Sporting A Poorly Matched Spruce Patch Under The Bridge. This Was The Result Of A Repair Needed After One Of The Owners Tried To Use Steel Strings On An Instrument That Was Made To Be Played With Gut Strings. The Tension Of The Steel Strings Pulled Off Not Only The Bridge But Most Of The Wood From The Soundboard Below It. It Wasn’t Pretty.

The cursory repair had been done not with the intention of restoring the original instrument, but in a hasty attempt to make it playable again. Still, its sound was unlike the others in the showroom. It carried me to a different place. Even with this patch, the bass register had a deep, rich warmth, and there was a playful bright tone in the trebles. I was hooked.

The guitar became my source for appreciating the music of the 19thcentury guitar composers such as Sor, Giuliani, Carcassi, and Coste. In fact, Carcassi played a Lacôte and worked a bit with the master in the design of his instruments. In 1826, together with Rene Lacôte, they applied for a patent for a 10-string guitar.

When played on the larger, modern classical guitar, this music can sound trite, simple and not worthy of the overreaching volume of instruments built in the 20th and 21st centuries. You can experience these pieces in a fresher way through the soundscape of one of these smaller, but no less powerful guitars. The bass can roar and the trebles have a sweetness that enhances the melodic dominance of this music.

I mentioned earlier that my guitar was sick. Every summer the bridge would pull up. I had it fixed two years in a row, but the repair would not hold. I began an internet search for the person who would know what to do. Conscious of its historical importance, I wanted someone who could understand that I didn’t want anything changed in the instrument and feared that after the repair, the instrument would no longer be playable. I posed the question in newsgroups and on websites asking whom I might trust for the job. The name of Michael Schreiner from Toronto came up numerous times. Once I heard a theorbo of his during a concert in Québec and had even written down (and later lost) his contact info. It was a beautiful and rich sounding instrument and was drawn at the time to the excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail.