Left: The Rosebud Tiger Garcia Replica is another work in progress, showcasing Sherman’s talented woodworking skills with an intricate inlay on the
back. Top Right: Sherman instruments use a set neck that is easily accessible, similar to a neck-through/blended-heel design. Bottom Right: The back
of this Sherman bass showcases unique patterns found in high-quality wood that is locally sourced, carefully stored and climate controlled by Sherman.
He experiments tonally with wood choices, pairing different species combinations for specific sounds.
Painstaking Attention to Detail
Sherman isn’t happy unless his designs are as visually striking as they
are user-friendly, and he’s not afraid to be unconventional. “There’s
a new breed of musicians that are fantastic. Most guitar players can
barely handle 6-strings, and these guys are playing 9- and 10-string
guitars—and playing them well. It’s amazing.” Sherman cites these
players because they’re the types coming to him for custom instru-
ments. “Everyone likes the way I do my set necks,” he says. “They’re
all-access, and don’t hinder your hand. There are no restrictions
going up to the upper frets at all. It’s kind of a neck-through/blend-
ed-heel design, but adapted to a set neck.”
At the time of this interview, Sherman was working on a fanned-
fret 10-string for a client. Like all his instruments, it was undergo-
ing a unique 12-step finishing process. First, the wood is grain-filled
(if necessary): Closed-pore varieties like maple don’t need filling, but
more porous woods like mahogany do. Depending on the instru-
ment, this can take up to three hours. “When you have a lot of
pin-stripe veneers and accents, some need to be filled, some don’t.
So I spend a lot of time masking,” Sherman says.
From there, each piece gets a vinyl wash coat to seal pores, creating a suitable surface for the finish. Though the next step can vary
according to client preferences or expediency, usually four clear coats
are then applied and then allowed to dry for two days. They’re then
sanded and color is applied. After the dying process, Sherman applies
four more clear coats, waits two days, sands the instrument, and
applies the final four topcoats. The guitar is then allowed to dry for
three weeks before final sanding and buffing. “The finishing process
takes a month,” he says. “You can’t be impatient in this business. You
can have the prettiest woodworking, but if you put a junk finish on
it, it’s not going to represent all the work that went into it.”
Addicted to the Rush
Though Sherman says he’d never trade his career for a less hectic
one, he marvels at the workload his business demands. Between the
eccentric and very particular personalities of his clients—“I’ll basically build whatever a customer wants, within reason,” he says—and
the administrative tasks, there’s never a dull moment. And there’s
always more to do. On top of all the work he puts in on individual
instruments, Sherman says he’s spent many nights lying awake, mulling over the idea of “going big time” and creating his own line. But
the answer has always been no, because, ultimately, he rather enjoys
the challenges that come with being a build-to-order luthier.
One anecdote illustrates how dedicated he is to proper wood
storage: After a startling, pre-Halloween blizzard that left most of
the East Coast without electricity for as many as 12 days, Sherman
once faced losing his entire stock of lumber. “We were without
power for so long that I literally had to run a separate generator just
to fire up that room and keep the climate controlled—because one
week can really freak out the wood.”
