The Old Guitar Maker

The old guitar maker and one of his jackfruit wood instruments.

I spent this past weekend in Carmen, which is in the central mountains of Bohol.  Although it was really a beautiful and quiet place to be, it was also out of broadband range, so I was "cut off" from the rest of the internet world.  I really did have a wonderful time there and met some incredibly wonderful people.  They live such simple lives that I feel really ashamed of all that I have.

For instance, I met an old guitar maker and his wife.  Now I have to tell you, I have a garage full of wood working tools.  My wife has been rearranging all of them while I am gone, but I've been assured they will all be there when I return.  Anyway, this man's outdoor workshop is very simple, and the collection of tools that he uses to build guitars with would fit in just one of  my tool boxes; however, his guitars are incredibly beautiful.  Perhaps the finish is a little rougher than you might find in a fine luthier's shop, but the wood is delightful and the tone quality of the instruments are wonderful.   He makes them out of jackfruit wood.  Now if you don't know what jackfruit is, you're missing an Asian culinary delight -- well at least in my opinion.  It's a rather aromatic fruit, so if you have a sensitive nose you may want to avoid it.  But the wood is beautiful as you can see in the photo above.

His meager collection of tools.

I visited with him and his wife for about an hour on Saturday afternoon along with the Pastor David Salingay of the church in Carmen.  They live in the middle of the jungle in a tiny one room bamboo house that sits up on stilts and has a ramp like you might see on a chicken coop. Bernardo Macabudbod and his wife, Felly, have been living there since 1958 when the couple bought the property to raise rice and other crops.  His wife made coffee for us on her little wood fired stove, which quickly filled the small house with smoke, as there is no chimney or vent for the smoke to exit through.  They also grow a variety of foods in there small garden plot, including sugar cane and papaya. Later that evening he and his wife came over the house where I was staying and he played some old hymns for us.  Pastor David and some others joined in the singing -- hopefully the video below will capture a little of the evening's music.  Oh, and ignore the dog barking in the background and people cutting in front of the camera -- that's life when shooting live, unrehearsed video.They stayed for a couple of hours and  made for a very enjoyable evening.  They came to church on Sunday and sang a special for us -- wish I had been prepared to catch their performance on video, as it was as charming and delightful as they are. Here is the YouTube link:  http://youtu.be/WXZ8KVwthBI

Felly at the door to her bamboo house.

 I wish I had some way of shipping one of his guitars home with me -- he was only asking P 2500, which is about $65 US.  They are too big to fit in a Balikbayan box and I can't justify paying the extra baggage for bringing it on the airplane with me on the flight home.  I'll check into it -- maybe I can have him build a custom guitar for me when I return, and by then I will have come up with a solution for bringing it home.  I haven't played guitar for many years, but I strummed a few chords on one of his masterpieces -- it was easy for me to play, so I imagine someone with some talent would really enjoy playing one.

I will introduce you to a couple more people tomorrow.  I hope you enjoy meeting them as much as I did!