Meet Dean Gordon | Luthier

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dean Gordon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dean, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
The guitar world is extremely conservative, I always like to say it’s stuck in the past and for good reason, half of the guitar world’s biggest influences lived and made their names in the past. Guitarists Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and many more have inspired many to pick up and play the guitar. What most people who don’t play guitar see is how those players influenced the exact type of guitar players pick up. I don’t want to say I was a rebel but the idea of picking up guitars designed 50-plus years ago never attracted me even if legends played them. I wanted something fresh with no ghosts on it, something that would also be more ergonomic and apply new design innovations.

Long story short, one of the biggest factors in my success I feel has been my progressive ergonomic designs. I make a guitar that has a completely new look, something ready to inspire a new generation. Most of my clients have been brought to me purely through design and if I had been making offshoots of the classic designs or making copies of those classics I would not be where I am today.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What sets my work apart from most of my peers in the guitar business are my unique modern ergonomic designs. I don’t think I can express how proud I am to give something different to the guitar world, something that is fresh and has no ghosts of the past on it. A huge reason I have any success professionally today is that for good or bad my work turns heads, I always get players saying ” what the heck is that? “. A lot of guitar builders choose to copy or do offshoots of the classic designs from 50-plus years ago, and not that this is a bad thing those classics inspire millions of players every day… But that never attracted me as much as it did others, I wanted something different something that had some modern innovations applied.

None of this has been easy, we all know how rash the internet can be and I have had keyboard warriors literally tell me to kill myself over my designs. I have been told by some successful people in this business that my designs evoking emotion like that prove they are worth looking at, actually, Walter Becker of Steely Dan told me that when I worked at Chelsea Guitars NYC doing repairs. While bad comments still get a rise out of my inner New Yorker I’ve learned to largely ignore these people and to use their words as a driving force. This is not a get rich profession it takes time to make it and these road bumps are expected be it a troll or an unreliable supplier.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I just moved to Miami from New York, it has been quite a change of pace. I love New York City but the filth, noise, and overcrowding were getting to me. While my fiancé and I have family in the area is another factor.

I have had a few friends come visit me so far down here in sunny Miami and the theme has always been Cuban cortado ( Cuban Coffee ) and guava pastries at a local spot and bringing them to a spot in Historic little Havana or the restaurant in the beautiful art deco National Hotel in Miami Beach. I think that is one of my favorite aspects of Miami between all of the ultra-modern buildings going up are these classic art deco buildings built in the 30s and 40s.

While it’s, unfortunately, becoming slowly corporatized I also like to take my guests to Wynwood a neighborhood famous for every wall and storefront being covered in art.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This is a hard one I want to recognize that the complete unconditional support from my family and loved ones has been gigantic.

I also want to give a huge thank you to Victor Baker, a superb arch-top guitar maker I apprenticed under. Victor taught me the majority of what I know and gave me the base of knowledge to create my own work style. I don’t think he realized it at the time when I was a pain in the butt kid knocking around his shop but I really did absorb everything he showed me. The effects of working in his shop for a few months gave me a great head start in this very competitive business.

Website: https://www.deangordonguitars.com/

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