NEWS
Taku Sakashta:
Luthier’s Legacy Lives On
By Adam Hunt
Rohnert Park, CA – The February 13, 2010
edition of the Santa Rosa, Calif., Press
Democrat made a shocking announcement
that a body was discovered in neighboring
Rohnert Park. Word quickly spread through
the guitar community that it was famed
guitar maker Taku Sakashta. Friends, musicians and fellow guitar makers were stunned
by the loss of one of the most exciting and
original guitar builders of his time.
As of press time, an arrest had been made in
this seemingly random act of violence, and
the suspect was in police custody.
thought myself capable of. Most of all, thank
you for raising the bar of my confidence
so much higher than it ever was before we
worked together. R.I.P. Taku…artist, craftsman, teacher, friend and dream maker!”
A Z.Vex Super-Duper pedal with custom paint job for the new Museum of Making Music The Art of the Stompbox exhibit.
Pedal painted and photographed by Hannah Haugberg
Sakashta’s Craft
Sakashta became interested in guitars at the
age of 10 in his hometown of Kobe, Japan.
He attended engineering and design school
in Japan and then spent five years developing a curriculum for teaching guitar making
at the school. Over the next eight years, he
designed, developed and produced custom guitars for major guitar companies. He
came to the US in 1991 and started his own
business. In 1996, he moved to Sonoma,
California, where he continued to build guitars of all types.
Noted archtop builder Tom Ribbecke commented on his friend’s achievements, saying, “Taku managed to come to the US and
achieve not only acceptance but admiration
from his peers. He was truly one of our
unique, tight-knit luthier community ... he
continuously innovated and created new
designs, and was an incredible guitar-making
talent and force, but he was a better person.
This is how I will always remember him.”
Museum of Making Music to
Host Stompbox Exhibition
By Rebecca Dirks
Carlsbad, CA – The Museum of Making
Music, which was established by the NAMM
Foundation in 1998, has announced the
opening of the special exhibition The Art of
the Stompbox in May.
Benefits in Sakashta’s Memory
Local luthier friends have moved to set up
a memorial trust fund for Sakashta’s next of
kin. For information on making a donation to
the trust, contact luthier and Sakashta mentor Ervin Somogyi at esomogyi@aol.com.
The exhibition will trace the development
and use of effects pedals in American music
and showcase pedals from the early 1940s
to present. It also chronicles the boutique
pedal movement and the handpainted,
printed and sculpted pedals that have
emerged from it. Attendees will also be
able to see a film on the use and culture of
stompboxes produced by Henry Kaiser and
featuring Wilco guitarist Nels Cline.
According to fellow luthier Denis Merrill,
Sakashta’s goal was “to achieve perfection
in sound, construction, decoration and fin-
ish. His primary focus was the archtop guitar,
although he could build anything and did so
for many of the world’s best guitarists. The
world has lost a gentle man. I will miss his
sense of humor.”
The exhibition was developed by Henry
Kaiser, UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of
Rock and Department of Visual Arts, as well
as interdisciplinary students from UCSD.
Sakashta’s creative designs and reputation
for astonishing sounding instruments soon
attracted interest from the likes of Tony
Darren, Robben Ford, Tony Marcus, Boz
Scaggs and Martin Simpson. At the time of
Sakashta’s death, his website mentioned that
he was in the process of designing guitars for
both Tuck Andress and Pat Martino.
In addition to cash donations, members of
the gear community are planning an auction
of materials, tools and instruments. Anyone
wishing to contribute items for auction can
send them to Tom Ribbecke, who will store
them until they can be sold together with
Sakashta’s tools and woods—which will
happen as soon as family and friends can
organize the effort. These donations can be
sent to either Ribbecke Guitars or Two-Rock
Amplification (contact info is below).
museumofmakingmusic.com
Former Sakashta student and renowned bicycle frame maker, Ross Shafer, talked about
the death of his friend and former teacher.
“Now that Taku has left us, I realize that the
real gift I got from him was the high level of
confidence it takes to dive into a completely
new craft. Thanks so much for the beauty you
created, for helping me to learn skills I never
Sakashta Memorial Fund c/o Ribbecke Guitars
498-D Moore Lane
Healdsburg, CA 95448
(707) 431-0125
Taku Donation c/o Two-Rock Amplifiers
619 Martin Ave. Ste. 6
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
(707) 584-8663
2010 Crossroads Festival Lineup
Announced, Show Sells Out
By Rebecca Dirks
Chicago, IL – Within the span of two weeks,
Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival
lineup was announced and then sold out.
It is to be held Saturday, June 26, 2010,
at Toyota Park in Chicago, Ill., and like the
2004 and 2007 shows, the lineup is incredible. Notable performers include Clapton
himself, B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy,
John Mayer, ZZ Top, the Allman Brothers
Band, Steve Winwood, Sonny Landreth,
Vince Gill, Jimmie Vaughan, Bert Jansch,
Albert Lee, Robert Cray, David Hidalgo and
Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, Doyle Bramhall II,
Earl Klugh, Robert Randolph, Gary Clark Jr.,
Hubert Sumlin, James Burton, Joao Gilberto,
