William "Grit" Laskin decided he wanted to be a guitar maker at age 17 when he saw a Jean Larrivee instrument at the now defunct Toronto Folklore Center. "It hadn't occurred to me before then that guitars were made by hand," he recalls. "I remember holding one of Jean's guitars and wondering how you could glue two pieces of wood together and not have a visible glue line." He met Larrivee soon after and was taken on as an apprentice in 1971. During his two-year apprenticeship, Laskin helped Larrivee complete more than 100 instruments, and his own reputation began to spread. By the time he struck out on his own, he already had all the orders he could handle.

William "Grit" Laskin

Today Grit works alone in a spacious climate-controlled shop in the west end of Toronto. He builds between 12 and 14 guitars per year, and sells them to players around the world. Laskin's philosophy is that inlays are not simply visual appointments but artistic statements. "The peghead and fingerboard are my canvas," he says. He painstakingly researches his subjects the same way a painter might, using live models, books and photographs. "I also love breaking the nut barrier," Laskin says in reference to inlays that spill over onto the first few frets. "But a guitar has to function as a musical tool first and foremost; otherwise the instrument is a failure."

The Museum Of Civilization—Canada's equivalent to the Smithsonian—has four Laskin guitars in its permanent collection, and in 1997 Laskin received Canada's prestigious national award, the Saidye Bronfman Award for Excellence In The Crafts. While his guitar-building mission continues, Laskin also finds the time to record and perform his own music, run a folk music recording label, help coordinate a summer music camp, and write for trade magazines. He has also written two books. It's hard to imagine a busier or more talented Renaissance man in the world of acoustic guitar.

Quotes:
Why I describe my inlay work as art: A traditional approach to instrument inlay, even when it is complex, typically serves only a decorative function...it can be beautiful and appealing, but it doesn’t fully “engage” a viewer. To me, when a creative act becomes art, when one is fully engaged by it, that is when it communicates successfully. In order to communicate it must have something to say. I endeavor to use the medium as a vehicle to communicate something...to convey at minimum a mood or feeling, at best an actual story, which gives me the ultimate satisfaction.

While staring at one of [Maxfield Parrish’s] humorous compositions, one of his characters, a baker, suddenly appeared in my mind’s eye walking onto the headstock. ...there would be enough of him visible for the brain to easily understand that he was in motion, was on his way across the headstock. The narrow headstock, I suddenly understood, was merely a partial view of a larger picture...Conveyed motion and offstage action.

Featured Exhibition Pieces 

Eschermorphosis, 2002	Ten Hands, 1997
6.0 6.0, 2001	Schiele Meets Pollock, 2001

Website:
For more information, visit: http://www.williamlaskin.com