Picture a cavernous warehouse space with shelves loaded with wood. These are not two-by-fours or two-by-eights, but rather slices of live-edge wood, which is neither timber nor lumber but has elements of both. Huge, thick slices of koa, various pines, sassafras, korina, acacia and several other species, some of which have been cut with the natural edges and bark of the wood left intact rather than squared off like lumber found at the hardware store.
This warehouse space is where the wood’s next chapter begins at the hands of luthier Gabriel Currie, founder and owner of Echopark Guitars in Detroit. Body by body, fret by fret, Currie and his small team create truly one-of-a-kind guitars, mainly for professional musicians, but not exclusively.
“I want to hook up with the cats that are making a dent now and doing the dirty work now … and putting their hearts and souls and experience into their art and their craft, whatever that may be,” Currie said.
Move to Detroit opens new chapter
The team is currently comprised of Jim Dugan, first assistant luthier who made the move from Los Angeles with Currie, second assistant of engineering Mike Housman of Livonia and apprentice Cain Pederson of Flint.
Currie started a new chapter in his life when he moved his guitar-making endeavors from Los Angeles in 2017 and yet another chapter opened following his divorce when he moved the handmade guitar workshop from the Old Redford neighborhood to Detroit’s east side area now dubbed Milwaukee Junction.
The L.A. native recently recalled a chapter that's decades in his past.
“I grew up in an area that was kind of rough, and so, it (guitar) was kind of my escape, or it became that, it became my place to go," Currie said. "I started getting jumped into gangs in the first grade. That was how it went down in my neighborhood.
“I say that guitar saved my life because ... without the lure of this thing, I don’t know, it has kind of captured the mystery of life to me in a weird way. It’s like, ‘How does this thing make so many other things happen?’ in terms of just ethereal senses and communication and … vibrations transmitting into notes that soothe or excite or any range of feelings or spark of emotions in between. It’s just weird. To this day it’s still very interesting to me.”
Part of what brought Currie to the Midwest was the possibility of finding old wood — really old wood.
“This is a really rich part of the country in terms of diverse timber,” Currie said. “Two species that are here that are really amazing to work with but also very tonal and rich in their colors and tonal pallets is sassafras, which sort of mimics southern ash a little bit, and this other species that’s a native to the area which is white pine. We managed to, in working with the Charles Hackley family, managed to secure a lot of that material that’s been in the bottom of the lakes and streams and rivers around the whole Michigan area for a couple hundred years since the mid 1800s when they started getting logged, maybe even a little bit earlier. But a lot of that material is pristine, virgin, it doesn’t exist on the planet anymore, in that form.
“It’s a unique material, so if your thing is to be that and offer that, then what better to have than a material that’s going to give you that, without even having to be different yourself. You don’t have to change your approach to; making stuff to attract people because the material is the attraction ... that’s the attraction. That’s the whole thing …. Because anybody can make anything. Anybody can make anything great, too, I think, but the difference is the materials. I do know that because of its uniqueness, that it’s gonna produce a unique sound.”
Queens of the Stone Age weigh in
Unique is a word that definitely applies to the band Queens of the Stone Age — of which three current members, Josh Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen and Michigan native Dean Fertita play, though not exclusively, Echopark guitars. In fact, two nights before QOTSA opened the leg of their North American The End is Nero tour in Michigan in August, Currie finished guitars for Fertita and Van Leeuwen with Van Leeuwen breaking in his signature model, a Clarence DeLeon, during the first song of the show.
“Our band, we’re, as guitar players we’re, it’s all quirk and nuance and Gabe understands that, so he helps us bring that out, amplify that," Fertita said. "He made a nine-string guitar for Josh (lead vocalist and guitarist) … it’s such a unique instrument and that has become a big part of Josh’s sound, too. Looking for ways for us to be as far from normal as possible is our goal all the time ... for him (Currie) to take his knowledge of guitar making and combine it with our need to be as far off the road as possible is what has made our working relationship so good.
“The best thing about working with Gabe is having somebody to understand us, our personalities, and beyond like what we need as guitar players or whatever, just what fits our personalities and that we would be excited to play," Fertita said. “It matters in a way. The story of the instrument matters. It gives you a feeling when you understand where it came from. The story gets deeper when you’re working with somebody day to day like we do with Gabe.”
Currie feels the same.
“I just happen to be fortunate enough really, lucky enough and maybe a little bit of talent in there to have hooked up with some artists ... there’s a lot of things that I do for artists that I only do for them because we have this long dialogue of what they’re going for," Currie said. "And usually, by the time you see an artist that is well-known with something from me, there’s been a long process behind that or at least a process of sorts.”
The story may go deeper still, according to Fertita.
“We’re talking about getting some, milling some wood from trees that have fallen on my property (in Nashville) to him. And I would love to see if that turns into anything cool. The misfortune of losing some trees might go into creating something.”
A unique collection
Unique also applies to the guitar that Currie’s daughter, Petra Currie, 17, of Taylor recently painted with images inspired by Petra’s passion for Japanese culture, an Asian folk tale, Hakujaden, and a 350-year-old walnut tree. The painting features a young couple and a cherry tree, an apt metaphor for life and rebirth.
The guitar will be part of a collection of eight, with the other seven guitars being screened with an image of the painting. The collection will be sold by Casino Guitars in North Carolina, the only dealer Currie works with when he is offering a collection. Currie hopes this will be the first of many guitars created with his daughter. When the hand-painted guitar sells, the profits will go into Petra’s college fund. To Dad, it is a great way to spend time with his daughter, creating something incredibly beautiful.
In the meantime, with each guitar that is built, Currie is determined to hold up his end of the bargain with each person who gets one of his guitars.
Added Currie on if he ever has a feeling of accomplishment, “Yes, I’m excited. Yes, it makes me happy. But that’s not the point. I don’t matter … I matter in that all the integrity and all of the things that are going into it are right, and have the stamp of 100% on them, whatever they are. It’s got my name on it so I gotta hold my end of the bargain. That’s my end of the bargain. The rest is up to the cat that’s slingin’ it. That’s his job.”
