Twenty-year GAL member Kerry Char repairs and restores fine acoustic instruments and still finds time to build classical, flamenco, and steel string guitars, not to mention Weissenborns and ukes. He has a special interest in and reputation for his work on harp guitars — restoring them, and building replicas of wonderful old Dyers and Knutsons.
▪ bio current as of 2008
2020
AL#141 p.71
Kerry Char
▪
2020
AL#140 p.34
Kerry Char
▪ This ornate contraption had seen a lot of use and abuse in almost a dozen decades of service. Long-ago modifications plus the pull of sixteen strings left it in a sorry state. It had to be taken in hand rather decisively to be brought back into playing condition. Two necks, the back, the enormous bridge, and a lot of bracing came off. Content warning: contains lutherie gore.
2020
AL#139 p.35
Kerry Char
▪ Vintage guitar restoration specialist Kerry Char runs down the many changes that Gibson’s most popular flattop has gone through over the decades. Then he presents a full drawing of one that falls into the best period of the model: a well-worn example from 1947.
2020
AL#139 p.36
Kerry Char
▪ Reduced image of the full-scale plan.
2019
AL#136 p.12
Kerry Char
▪ A cool old Gibson-era Epiphone guitar got well and truly smashed in an incident involving large and excited dogs. Better call Char! Kerry Char, that is. He jumps right in to remove the top, take off the braces, and then put the whole thing back together and polish it up nice before you can say “Kalamazoo!” From his 2017 GAL Convention slide show.
2018
AL#135 p.30
Kerry Char
▪ Kerry Char sawed the top off an old Gibson flattop in front of a group of several dozen luthiers at the 2017 GAL Convention. And within the same hour he pried the back off a Knutsen harp guitar. Step by step photos.
2008
AL#93 p.20 ALA6 p.64
Mike Doolin Kerry Char Gary Southwell Fred Carlson
▪ Harp guitars have undergone a renaissance of sorts, in construction alternatives as well as the music that is being invented for them. Players want banks of super treble strings as well as an extended bass range. Luthiers have responded with new designs and different string configurations that make newer harp guitars more user friendly, more graceful, and musically more pertinent. The four members of this panel discussion are among the leading small builders of these interesting mega-guitars. With 53 photos and 2 sketches.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.35 ALA1 p.46
Kerry Char
▪ Char presents a hasty but interesting look at Gibson’s L-series guitar while zeroing in on the L-00, probably the most desirable member of the family. Learn how it was made, why they failed structurally, and examine the 2-page version of GAL Plan #55. With 8 photos.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2007
AL#91 p.36 ALA1 p.46
Kerry Char
▪ A full-scale instrument plan. See the GAL website for a low-rez preview.
This article has been nominated as one of the Guild’s best articles published before 2010.
2003
AL#74 p.61
Kerry Char
▪ Plans for the Orville Gibson style U harp guitar.
2002
AL#69 p.28 BRB6 p.316
Jonathon Peterson Kerry Char
▪ Char is a guitar maker who also specializes in the restoration of old and odd instruments, particularly harp guitars by Knutsen and others. With 16 photos of vintage instruments.
1996
AL#48 p.5 BRB4 p.205
Kerry Char
▪ Char sends several photos of a unique resophonic mando-cello he made for Gregg Miner.