{"id":3603,"date":"2016-02-22T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T17:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=3603"},"modified":"2017-12-06T13:34:17","modified_gmt":"2017-12-06T21:34:17","slug":"second-generation-luthier-joshia-de-jonge-was-born-with-woodworking-in-her-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/second-generation-luthier-joshia-de-jonge-was-born-with-woodworking-in-her-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-Generation Luthier Joshia de Jonge Was Born with Woodworking in her Blood"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Stephanie Powell<\/em><\/p>\n

From hobby to handwork, second-generation luthier Joshia de Jonge<\/a><\/strong> went from whittling her first alto classical guitar out of Bolivian rosewood with a mahogany neck in her father\u2019s workshop to crafting her own line of classical guitars, complete with a traditional, trademarked rosette.<\/p>\n

It was the woodworking that hooked her, she says\u2014that and perhaps a little old-fashioned sibling rivalry. \u201cIt started when my brother was eight, tinkering around in the shop, building a ukulele-like thing,\u201d de Jonge says over the phone from Canada. \u201cI thought, \u2018What? He\u2019s doing that?\u2019 I wanted to do it, too, so we both started building guitars side-by-side at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today the instrument remains the center of a family affair\u2014Joshia\u2019s father, Sergei de Jonge, is a Quebec-based luthier who also founded the de Jonge School of Lutherie, and she has six siblings who have each taken a stab at building classical guitars.<\/p>\n

For Joshia, building does not equate to playing, she reminds me when I ask if she plays.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I totally don\u2019t,\u201d she admits with a small laugh, adding that her father got into building guitars because he played and, at the time, couldn\u2019t afford to buy one. \u201cEveryone asks that and is shocked that I don\u2019t\u2014I mean I\u2019ve taken a few lessons and I play enough to try my guitars and test them out, but really very little. I need to dedicate all of my time to building and to be able to build the way I want to build,\u201d she adds, acknowledging the rigorous schedule of serious classical guitarists.<\/p>\n

And so, for most of the past 23 years, she has followed her passion\u2014carving necks and bracing tops (two aspects of guitar building she considers her favorite and most challenging)\u2014in her father\u2019s shop along with her luthier-husband Patrick Hodgins.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be close to him,\u201d she says of working with her father in his shop. She\u2019s learned innumerable lessons; her first: \u201cMaybe not to cut my fingers off,\u201d she recounts with a laugh. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to say, because there\u2019s so much\u2014everything I know really stems from his knowledge; lots of little things, like learning how to look at wood, recognizing quality wood, and how to tell differences between grains.\u201d<\/p>\n

While working under the same roof as her father has offered her unparalleled mentoring, Joshia says she is looking forward to finding her own space, a transition that is underway\u2014in late fall or early winter, Joshia and Patrick will be opening up their own shop in Rupert, Quebec.<\/p>\n

However, she will remain involved, occasionally, with the de Jonge School of Lutherie, she says. \u201c[Teaching people] helped me learn what I know and what I don\u2019t know,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re showing someone something, you really have to think about why you do what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most challenging hurdle for most students, she says, is bending sides, which Joshia prefers to build with Indian rosewood. But she also offers options of African blackwood, Brazilian rosewood, ziricote, cocobolo, and wenge.<\/p>\n

\"Joshia<\/p>\n

Standard model guitars hand-built by Joshia also include Englemann or European spruce, Western red cedar tops, mahogany or Spanish cedar necks, ebony fingerboards, rosewood bridges, and French polished finish. When Joshia was 21, she studied with Geza Burghardt, a luthier based in Vancouver, British Columbia, who \u201cwas a huge influence\u201d and taught her French polishing, a technique that she quickly adopted to replace conventional lacquering.<\/p>\n

French polishing\u2014which the father-daughter luthier pair share in their craft\u2014is now taught in the de Jonge School of Lutherie, too. But Joshia is quick to note that many of the duo\u2019s other building techniques differ\u2014including wood choices (Sergei prefers to use Sitka spruce) and bracing patterns. The work ethic, however, remains the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father really instilled that in us,\u201d she says. \u201cHe would make us redo jobs over and over. It\u2019s all I\u2019ve ever known, but we\u2019re definitely a family of pushing each other and checking each other\u2019s work\u2014getting each other to strive not for perfection, but improvement. We learned in the shop to put our best in everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her determination and resilience have proven to be beneficial for more than just her craftsmanship\u2014as a female luthier, Joshia admits there is something of a divide in what has always been primarily a male trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly [it\u2019s been] quite positive\u2014I mean, for sure it\u2019s a thing,\u201d she says of working as a female luthier. \u201cOften at [guitar] shows, people would think I was there representing my husband or my father and not there to represent\u00a0myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Growing up with four brothers helped: \u201cI was used to that kind of environment and comfortable around my brothers, but mostly it\u2019s been positive and people have said, \u2018Oh, wow, a female luthier.\u2019 But there are little things where it\u2019s hard for people to take you seriously and you kind of have to prove yourself a bit. It\u2019s been a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did have female role models, contemporary luthiers such as\u00a0Canada-based Linda Manzer (known for her archtop, flattop, and harp acoustic guitars), Shelley Park (master luthier of gypsy-jazz guitars), Judy Threet (known for her fingerstyle acoustics), and Cyndy Burton (luthier of contemporary classicals). \u201cThey are women I knew of, respected, and looked up to,\u201d Joshia says, adding that while they all remain influential, they didn\u2019t necessarily affect her building style.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m finding that there are more and more female luthiers popping up,\u201d she adds, \u201cso, it\u2019s becoming not so lonely, though it has been, for sure, something I\u2019ve been aware of. We\u2019re getting more females [at the school], and it\u2019s nice having more women joining the craft.\u201d<\/p>\n

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