Richard Heeres

Heeres Guitars

Luthier

©Maarten Fleskens

Striking the right note

Richard is excited by the life he creates when making a new guitar
He conserves tradition adding a mechanical twist
His greatest compliment is to be asked to make another guitar

For Richard Heeres, it all began with the need for a new guitar when he was in a band. By chance, he spotted an advert in a music magazine advertising a workshop to build your own guitar, in Canada. In the few months it took to build his first guitar – a Dreadnought – it soon became clear that guitar building was his calling. With a background in carpentry and mechanical engineering, the craft of guitar building brought the two disciplines together in perfect unison. Since then, he has built guitars of all kinds, from Thin line Electrics and Archtops to Nylon- and Steel-string guitars. For Richard, a well made guitar is only that when the result lives up to both his and the customer’s expectations. As much as the appearance, it is about tone, getting it just right.

Interview

©Karin Schrage

How would you describe what you do?: It is an artisan’s way of life. There is an artistry to building my guitars, in that there is an aspiration involved: a hope that by playing my guitars, art will be produced by way of music and performance.
How do you express tradition and innovation in your guitars?: Guitar making employs age-old techniques and traditions where wood is sculpted by hand to shape the guitar. To the traditions that have existed for so long, I add a contemporary twist by using electric machinery and modifying a guitar’s design.
What do you love most about guitar making?: The fact that you can give shape to something from raw materials. That with a single chisel, you can create a curved shape. It is like Michelangelo said, “Every block of stone or wood has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
Can you name a highlight from your guitar building career?: Receiving a commission to build a guitar for the great Lionel Loueke, the guitarist to Herbie Hancock. He recorded the album "HH" performing on the guitar I made for him. Since then, he has asked me to build him another. There’s no greater compliment than that.

Richard Heeres is a master artisan: he began his career in 1992 and he started teaching in 2000