Interview Jan van Capelle

An Aristides OIO can be described as a futuristic, space-age guitar. Of course the secret behind it is the one-piece body of molded Arium. But don’t think these guitars are easy to make, because a lot of old fashioned handwork is involved to build these guitars. One of our employees travels five hours a day to come to Amsterdam to build our guitars and he’s a certified luthier of classical instruments. We asked his opinion about the OIO and Arium. See more.

The 24-years-old Jan van Cappelle studied at the International Luthier’s School of Antwerp, Belgium (www.ilsa.nu) for three years. Jan:
“The ILSA has two different courses, called bowed instruments and plucked instruments. I decided to study plucked instruments. The first year I built an octaveguitar, the second year a classical concert guitar and an octaveguitar and in the third year I made two Renaissance lutes. After those three years I became a certified luthier.”


The interview

How does a luthier of classical instruments ends up at a modern company like Aristides?
“While studying in Belgium, I made a weblog about my instruments. The people at Aristides discovered it and they asked me to pay the factory a visit. Before I knew I had been offered a job.”

You’re trained to work with all kinds of woods. What is it like, to build Arium guitars?
“After my study I had a job outside the guitar world. Of course I was glad to find a fulltime job in which I could work with guitars. I love the fact that Aristides is innovative. Time passes by, too many manufacturers only look at their past but Aristides has the guts to do something new. I think some classical instruments are more evolved than some famous guitar designs of the ‘50s. Arium is quite special. You can’t process it like wood, but it sounds like wood. I think it can be compared to good quality spruce in some ways, only spruce is too soft for necks. Arium is very strong, it can be used for everything and it’s very resonant in all registers. Another thing is that there isn’t any waste. I think too much rare and beautiful wood is spilled by making bad guitars out of it.”

Is your education of use, while making Arium guitars?
“It sure is. A lot of things are done by hand, you have to think a lot, we still discover new things and in some ways the construction of an Aristides reminds a bit of a lute.”

What kinds of instruments do you play yourself?
“I started with a Squier Strat which I still have. I also play an OIO and of course my self made classical instruments.”