Cooper's Cornucopia of Kooky Stuff
Requiem for a Guitar Shop

I know a guy that could walk into the woods, pick the right tree, chop it down and come back in a certain amount of time with a beautiful guitar. That used to be a tree.

We're talking bare hands, months of sweat and years of learning the physics of wood and sound, culminating in something you can hold in your hands, something that can inspire your music to greater heights..

I know a guy, that over the years, learned that these skills can bring you immense respect from musicians and artists of all types, yet still leave you hungry, tired, burned-out and broke.

A lot of times, the American Dream remains just that. A dream.

If you haven't already figured this out, I'm writing about a local cat named Craig Landau, owner of Craig's Guitar Shop. If you play any (I mean any) kind of guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, harp, dulcimer or whatever - you've either had your instruments tweaked by him or know someone who has.

I've known Craig for about eight years and had the pleasure of working (studying?) with him for about three. I can honestly say he's a blast to hang out with, an excellent blues and classical player and an absolute whup-ass luthier. Sadly, none of these qualities will allow him to stay in business. In a nutshell, Craig's Guitar Shop is closing down because it takes too long to do a job perfectly and most of us seem to be unwilling to pay for perfection.

I feel that we're losing something greater, though. Besides the fact that those oh-so-buttery-smooth "Landau fret jobs" will no longer be available, or the impossible repairs ("What? Your guitar exploded? Do you have all the pieces? - no problem."), or just a place that drew players of all types together - we're losing a bonafide virtuoso artisan, because everything pays better than guitar repair.

It's just not right, and God, it pisses me off.

Realize that as much as we bitch about funding for "the arts," lack of places for "the arts," Charlotte's general disinterest in "the arts," we usually focus on the arts of dance, theatre, visual arts, etc. We had a chance to enjoy another wonderful art, but now that chance is gone.

In closing, take a look at the headstock of your guitar (or that of someone you know, because if you aren't a player invaribly you know someone who loves his/her guitar). See the name there? Is it Fender? Gibson? Taylor? Steinberger? Now imagine the person whose name is being used. Leo, Orville, Bob and Ned were guys that somehow made it work. They were (and are) real people, not just disembodied names.

Now imagine how cool it would be to see "Landau" on the headstock of your instrument. Why would it be cool? Not just because it would have been a guarantee that the guitar you were holding would sound incredible and be an exquisite piece of craftsmanship. You live in the same town with the guy. It would have been your chance to actually have known the guy who, if fate was a little different, would someday be that disembodied name that thousands of us would take for granted.

But I guess we couldn't wait that long to take him for granted. We did it right from the start.

If you've read this whole things, you've got quite a bit of patience. I hope you are a little more informed about our city's recent loss of coolness. Personally, I'm going to go drink a few beers with Craig, and talk shop while we still can.

Most sincerely,

Chris Cooper

Chris Cooper is the guitarist for Ishi, a Charlotte-based original band whose first full-length album Lost in a Bordertown is scheduled for release in early 2000. Cooper has played numerous styles of music for over eleven years with overseas tours to Guam, Greece and Turkey. He has also been a guitar tech and a guitar builder's apprentice at Craig's Guitar Shop and currently works in the shop at McFadyen Music in Charlotte. E-mail c/o ishiband@yahoo.com.