Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Lucas.
Hi Aaron, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2012 I was tired of the F&B life and thought I would try falling back on my lifelong woodworking skills. I knew a ton of people in the restaurant world, as well as the brewery world and was very lucky to creep by those first few years based on relationships. Those brought in long term commissions and larger jobs where I was actually able to make money above cost. Being pigeon holed is not in my nature and I leaned into diversity. This was difficult due to the required tooling needed for a wide product range, but satisfied my artistic side and curiosity of pushing myself to the limits of my abilities and knowledge. Moderate success allowed me to coast for a few years before I was presented with the opportunity to be the General manager of a fairly large custom sawmill. I loved wood in general but never dreamed I would be involved on that scale, which also afforded me the opportunity to design a project from literally the log to the finished project, amazing. But a desire to get back to really focusing on creating drove my decision to leave the sawmill and go back to my one man circus, with a new focus however. Acoustic instruments seem to be one of the most difficult things a woodworker could do and it seemed that in creating acoustic guitars the creative menu would be never ending, so I ran for it. Paying the bills was another matter so a combination of cutting wood for the use in instruments and building acoustic guitars is slowly evolving. The “tonewood” that I focus on is sinker cypress, which I have named “Dark Forest Cypress”.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I feel like a combination of ignorance and stubbornness not only through glass on the road but turned on the water to wash it away. There is nothing easy about a small business and just when you think you have a good handle on things the National Political arena lets you know otherwise. Despite trying to keep my prices reasonable, I still need to make enough profit to pay the bills. Large or long term commissions act as a constant source of income, dialing in those types of jobs frees up time for other small jobs which act as icing on the cake. But, if either abruptly stops, it puts a hurting on the cash flow. This balance is the most difficult part, trying to plan for stable annual income while trying to anticipate lean periods in the future.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Dark Forest Cypress
In an industry like boutique guitars it can be hard to go against over a century of tried and true practices. This is what I am doing with sinker cypress. I am working to introduce the first new conifer, as a top wood, to the guitar world since the 1970’s. Not only is there no reference for builders to go by but the material has been submerged for hundreds to thousands of years, really ticking off the unknown boxes. After a few years into it I did find references to the use of bald cypress in instruments from the 1870’s to the 1920’s, but no examples. A very important part of the entire endeavor is to push sustainability and responsible timber harvest and management. There is something like 40 million acres that were cut by hand and transported via water ways, from forests of an age perfect for guitar tops. Being very selective of the logs removed, no tree needs to be cut down and another tree can continue to grow.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Never be afraid to reach out. Never be afraid to ask all the questions. I have mentors all over the planet. It is nothing to reach out to someone, if they do not respond, find someone else, there are plenty of people.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aaronlucasguitars.com/
- Instagram: @dark_forest_cypress
- Facebook: @aaronlucasguitars
- Twitter: @aaronlucasguitars
- Youtube: @aaronlucasguitars
