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Photo by Reed Hutchinson |
After Hours
The Luthier
By Wendy soderburg
Today Staff Writer
Dan Levitt spends his daytime hours providing support services for students with permanent and temporary disabilities. But few people on campus are aware of his other life as a luthier — a craftsman who makes stringed instruments — and as a musician who is currently working on a CD of bluegrass and folk tunes with fellow musician Dennis O’Hanlon. Levitt’s latest and most complicated project is an ornate banjo that took him 25 years to make.
Title: Assistant Director in the Office for Students with Disabilities
Second Career: Instrument artisan and musician
When Started: “We had a boxful of S&H Green Stamps when I was young, and my mother said if we pasted them all into the books, we could get whatever we wanted. So my older brother and I did that and decided we would order a banjo. That’s how I got into playing banjo.”
Mentor: “I found banjos to be kind of expensive, and it spurred me on to looking into making instruments. At the time I was an art major, so making them seemed to be within the realm of possibility. I found a custom-instrument shop in Santa Monica and apprenticed with the owner for about a year, in 1972. His name was Ren Ferguson, and he went on to become the custom-instrument maker for Gibson guitars. I learned from the best.”
Number of Instruments Made: “Probably six or eight. Three of them I have. I sold the rest. Custom-made banjos typically go for $2,000 to $10,000 or $15,000 for fancy ones. If they have some history, they can be more.”
Unique Qualities of Latest Banjo: “It’s completely done by hand. There are a dozen woods of different colors, including mahogany, paduk, purple heart and holly. There is mother-of-pearl and abalone inlay in the binding, fingerboard and peghead. The tuners are gold-plated, with mother-of-pearl and lapis lazuli. There are 300 pieces of shell inlay and 800 pieces of wood inlay.”
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Back of Levitt's latest banjo. |
Value: “I don’t want to say, but it’s been appraised for a lot.”
Most Tedious Part: “I learned something about patience. If you set a goal, for example, cutting out a group of inlays by the end of the weekend, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Typically, it doesn’t go as quickly as you want. There are interruptions — you’ve got to prune the trees or fix the plumbing. So I learned that you work on it without setting goals, and you’re finished when it’s finished.”
Spousal Indulgence: “My wife, Robin, never complained about my disappearing into the shop for days at a time. And you figure for those last two years, I was there 80% of my nights and weekends.”
Future Plans: “Well, I thought about making a string bass. But I have a string bass. It’s very involved, and I see pictures on the Internet of people who make string basses, and there’s a lot of sawdust on the floor. Big projects are not daunting to me; I just don’t know if I need another one. At this point, I want to play the banjo.” |
