Talking Guitars

Distributed by Take Action Films, 632 College St., Suite 3, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6G 1B4; 416-277-1304Produced by Stichting Docushot (Netherlands)Directed by J. Claire Pijman2007, DVD, color, 73 min. This low-key documentary profiles soft-spoken Dutchman Flip Scipio, master guitar maker and repairer. We see Scipio in the company of well-known musicians Jackson Browne, David Lindley, Paul Simon and Carly Simon, who play and sing on camera. Scipio talks with them about their instruments and about guitars and music in general. Although he is called in to repair one of Keith Richard's guitars while the Rolling Stones gear up for a tour, his mother also wants her mandolin fixed—the one Scipio broke when he was a young man. She is willing to be patient, but lets him know he needs to make time for her repair. One scene shows him in his Long Island New York workshop using a woodworking plane, picking up a shaving, looking through it, smelling it, and finally, crushing it in his hands. This man knows wood and what can be done with it. Scipio professes not to be interested in the perfect guitar: "I just like to make the guitar for the joy of making it." His quiet enthusiasm is infectious. Many Dutch musicians also appear in the film; the dialog is in English and Dutch with English subtitles. Scipio knows guitars, expressing reverence for American-made instruments made between 1910 and 1960. He can pick one up and identify who made it and when. Talking Guitars neither teaches us how to build and repair guitars nor how to play them, but it give us a glimpse into the life of the professional musician, their concerns and cares, their delights and joys with a well-made instrument. Scipio says, "I was always involved in some kind of communication." There is no narrative line and no dramatic tension; he's not racing to save a guitar before a crucial performance. This is a picture of one man's life work on the periphery of the global music industry. The only quibble I had is that it's a little slow in places. This film will be of great interest to string musicians and others who care about the sound of beautifully made instruments.