John Koeninger of RVA Luthier Services
During a long guitar solo, the musician seems to disappear into the music. The world fades, muscle memory takes over, and all thought slips away.
But when John Koeninger picks up a guitar, his brain goes into overdrive. Gears turning, he’s analyzing tension, vibration, resonance, the physics that transform energy into sound. In retirement, the former mechanical engineer has discovered a new career as a luthier, repairing guitars and building custom instruments from his Midlothian home.
Koeninger has learned that minor adjustments can make a dramatic difference. Ten thousandths of an inch matter on a fretboard. Strings should sit high enough to vibrate freely yet low enough to be comfortable on the player’s fingers. The body of a guitar can shrink or swell with humidity, and it can eventually collapse from the force of the strings. Even the finish matters — given time, a guitar coated with a nitrocellulose lacquer will ultimately sound better than one covered in polyurethane.
“The two biggest mistakes people make when buying a guitar is spending too much money and not getting it professionally set up,” Koeninger says. “You can take a $150 Yamaha guitar and make the playability perfect, or you can take a $5,000 Martin, use the wrong strings, and it can sound terrible.”
Koeninger and his wife moved from Ohio to the Richmond area in 2013, when his 25-year career in the U.S. Air Force ended. In his newfound free time, he turned to his lifelong love of music and musical instruments. He casually played guitar around town and started the Facebook group Open Mic RVA! to connect fellow amateur musicians.
During gigs, Koeninger’s friends realized he had a knack for repairing guitars, something he often did for his buddies in the Air Force. Soon, what began as a hobby turned into his own business, RVA Luthier Services. “I’m a better luthier than I am a guitar player, but you can’t be one without the other,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot about what is needed for a guitar by being a musician.”
Koeninger at work on a new guitar
Koeninger compares his repair work to that of a medical examiner, carefully analyzing every part before making an official diagnosis. “I learned a lot about the construction of guitars by taking them apart,” he says.
Interested in music and mechanics from a young age, Koeninger remembers playing his sister’s Garcia classical guitar at age 12. Inspired, he tried to build his own instrument from scraps of found wood. “It didn’t turn out very well,” he says, “but it sparked my interest.”
In high school he got a guitar of his own: a 12-string Epiphone Texan known for its wide neck, which made it difficult to play. “I don’t do anything the easy way,” he says with a laugh, “but back then I really got into the Neil Young ‘Rust Never Sleeps’ and ‘Harvest Moon’ albums, and that guitar really married well with the music.”
The profession of a luthier — pronounced loo-thee-ur — dates back to ancient civilizations. The lyre, one of the earliest known stringed instruments, originated 3,000 years B.C.E. Crafted from wood, the lyre often featured intricate carvings.
During the Renaissance, music and the arts flourished in both everyday life and the church. The first sheet music was printed, stringed instruments evolved and early guitars emerged in the 15th century, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, innovations helped standardize instruments and made them widely available. In 1833, Martin Guitar was founded, revolutionizing the acoustic guitar. C. F. Martin Sr. invented X-bracing, while his grandson later developed the dreadnought body style still popular today.
Koeninger honors the ancient art of lutherie while embracing modern technology. He relies on software applications and a computer-controlled router to make precise cuts for the neck, fretboard, bridges and some of the intricate inlay designs.
Koeninger built his first guitar back in 2000, a six-string mahogany dreadnought. In retirement, he’s been working nonstop to perfect his craft, completing one instrument about every three weeks. Last year alone, he sold 19 custom builds at River City Guitars in North Chesterfield. His materials range includes Indian rosewood, spruce, mahogany and other exotic woods.
Before assembling the body, Koeninger evaluates the sound. “If it’s dull, I’ll sand the top thinner to make it more resonate,” he says. “I’m listening for a certain sustained response.”
The internal bracing is equally critical. “It’s really meticulous, but I’m process oriented.”
He says his masterpiece so far is a dreadnought-sized Clapton guitar. Using a technique called marquetry, he assembled thin layers of laser-cut natural, dyed and bleached wood veneers to form celebrated guitarist Eric Clapton’s portrait. “I cut a pocket out of the fretboard so it would sit as flush as possible, and it took me about three or four tries to get the detail just right,” Koeninger says.
He embellished the guitar with abalone shell around the neck, body and sound hole. A shortened version of his name, Koniger, is emblazoned along the neck in mother-of-pearl.
Koeninger plans to move RVA Luthier Services to a new shop on Patterson Avenue, where he’ll have more space to build custom guitars. How will he top the Clapton design? “With the Beatles,” he says.
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