Photos By Glenn Triest

Dr. Platt says he gets a certain joy from building the guitars and hearing the music they make.

another world.
"Each guitar has its own
personality, its own feel and
sound," said Dr. Platt. "It's
a wonderful feeling holding
it and making music with
something that you've
made."
Every guitar Dr. Platt
makes bears a logo of his
initials, ARP, which is
placed on the peg head of
the instrument. His signa-
ture is visible through the
sound hole.
Dr. Platt's guitars can
take as long as 300 hours to
craft and can cost anywhere
from $1,200 to $5,000 to
buy. He also can customize
the sound for the type of
music played, be it folk,
classical or jazz.
"Doing this and even get-
ting started with this was a
challenge for me," he said. "I

knew that if I could learn
how to bend the wood, then
I could build a guitar."

"I've always
enjoyed working
with my hands,
building things.
I did some
carpentry as a
teen-ager.
It's just something
I love doing."

Dr. Platt even built a
mechanical device that
helps him bend the wood for
the sides of the guitar.
"What do your teachers

tell you about anything? To
be successful takes prac-
tice," Dr. Platt said. "A per-
son can practice playing a
guitar, but I had to practice
making a guitar. And like
playing, the more you prac-
' tice, the better you get at
this. You get a feel for it."
His first guitar was a
scale model that looked like
a mini-ukulele. When he
saw that he could success-
fully build the model, he
began ordering wood and
supplies. From there, he
became a member of a
luthiers guild. He learned
more from the guild and
from seeing other luthiers
do everything from creating
a sound to selecting the size
of body and type of wood. He
also learned how to carve
the interior braces.
"I guess the biggest corn-

pliment I've ever gotten
from someone was that the
sound of my guitars was
consistent," he said. "I feel
that I've been given a bless-
ing by being able to create
something with my hands.
For the long run, I've settled
into this. It's a constant
challenge. I look at a pile of
wood in my basement cor-
ner, and from that I can cre-
ate an instrument, a piece
of art.
"Each instrument has its
own soul in a way," he con-
tinued, "and I feel a certain
way toward each instru-
ment. It's as if the instru-
ment has its own life. And
each 'life' has become a won-
derful part of my life, as
well." ❑