04 Mar Cândido, the builder
Cândido Jacob was 6 or 7 years old when his taste for music began. He learned to play the piano and drums, but what he never let go of was the guitar. One day, he had a problem with one, took it to have it repaired and it didn’t work. So he thought: why not learn to do it myself? Today he has a workshop where he repairs and builds custom guitars by hand.
When you enter his workshop in Banhos Secos, a few kilometers from Coimbra, you don’t see many guitars. The reason is simple: it was only a few months ago that Cândido decided to quit the contemporary art gallery where he worked to devote himself to this activity.
He has already completed four acoustic guitars, all different. The first one (pictured) is his own. Later on, he wants to turn to vintage. He is preparing to invest in a so-called cigar box guitar, a small guitar made from a cigar box.
Natural materials and doll’s varnish
Cândido Jacob’s work is practically all done by hand. The exceptions are the drilling machine and the saw. Even the molds and drawings are his own. Building a guitar from scratch, by hand, is a slow and meticulous process. He only makes one instrument at a time and it takes him a month and a half on average to finish it.
He makes a point of using only natural materials, such as glue made from sturgeon entrails. He even varnishes “doll style”, i.e. the old-fashioned way, with a piece of wool wrapped in linen. The price of each guitar is around 1500 euros, but varies depending on the materials and labor time used.
“Continuous research work”
Cândido began by researching on the Internet and reading books, but he essentially learned the trade from two people: Fernando Meireles in Coimbra and Ludovic Barrier in Paris. His knowledge is constantly being updated, not least because, as he says, “this is a continuous research project”.
In Paris, he built a small travel guitar from scraps of wood, carved like a violin. He won’t part with it.
For now, music production has been put on hold. He has “a few things recorded”, but he wants to commit himself to building and repairing guitars, including electric guitars, something that gives him great pleasure. To contact him, just check out his Facebook page.
“No handicrafts” at school
Cândido Jacob, 32, has a degree in Art History from Coimbra, a master’s degree in Management and Conservation of Cultural Property from Salamanca, has worked in the field of exhibition production and assembly in Spain and France and studied Contemporary Art and Criticism in Santiago de Compostela. He still produces and mounts exhibitions part-time.
“At school, I didn’t do any manual work. But I think that if I’d been told in 5th or 6th grade: “Let’s make a guitar!”, things would have been different,” he says with a smile.
Portuguese version of the text by Carina Fonseca
(Published on September 5, 2013 in Preguiça Magazine)