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View a video special presentation by Bruce J. Kunkel >> Windows Media
Quicktime
Bruce J. Kunkel is the
son of Wallace M. Kunkel, author, educator and
fine woodworker. His father instilled in him at
an early age a love of music and art and involved
Bruce in the creation of his 18th century furniture
masterpieces. Recognizing his eye for design and
drawing skills the elder Kunkel encouraged his
son in the direction of the fine arts. As a young
child, Bruce would collect the odd shaped scraps
of hardwood from around the base of his dad’s
band saw and carve them into animals and birds.
He became an accomplished woodcarver before his
teens.
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THE KUNKEL NAME
The Kunkel name has long been synonymous with
uncompromising quality and the pursuit of excellence
in design and workmanship. The family traces its
ancestry to the Black Forest of Germany, which
no doubt accounts for their strong woodworking
and woodcarving traditions. Bruce is one of six
sons; five of which are professional woodworkers;
the sixth and youngest is a graphic artist and
printer. His only sister, Mary is an author and
publisher who makes available Wallace Kunkel’s
seminal work “How to Master the Radial Arm
Saw”.
Bruce and his father established a woodworking
school in Chester, New Jersey in 1976 that they
ran for ten years. Wallace taught power tool techniques
classes and fine furniture making while Bruce
taught hand tool joinery and woodcarving. Together
with brothers Marc and Wally, they taught the
art of fine woodworking to over eight hundred
people, many of them became professional woodworkers. |
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BRUCE'S EARLY INTEREST...
His interst in music combined with his fine arts
and woodworking background naturally led him to
instrument making. He became intrigued by the
sound and visual appearance of the 5-string banjo.
At age 12 he built his first banjo from plans
he found in a magazine. Growing up in rural New
Jersey, banjo players were practically non-existent
so Bruce taught himself to play from Pete Seeger’s
book, “How to play the 5-String Banjo”.
As a high school student, he took banjo lessons
from Roger Siminoff. Years later he would build
his first F5 mandolin with the aid of Siminoff’s
book, “Constructing a Bluegrass Mandolin”.
Bruce worked after school at National Music, a
Gibson dealer in Montclair, NJ at age 15. In his
early 20’s, he worked as a 5-string banjo
instructor at Tom Barth’s Music Box in Ledgewood,
NJ. The store was a mecca for great professional
guitarists. Bob Benedetto was the repairman at
that time.
Bruce studied fine arts and art history with Vernon
Maxim and Art McCluskey at Montclair High School.
He received a scholarship to the Dallas Museum
of Fine Arts Honors program under the direction
of Chapman Kelley. He attended North Texas State
University where he studied music and the school
of Visual Arts in New York majoring in painting
and sculpture. |
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THE CHALLENGE
BEGINS ALONGSIDE HIS FATHER...
"These pieces are my legacy. They are
far better than a tombstone."
After struggling for a few years as a painter,
Bruce began a fine furniture shop with his father.
He found that woodworking satisfied his creative
needs as well as being a medium the public would
more readily pay for. They received commissions
for 18th century furniture reproductions and developed
a reputation for quality and authenticity. Wallace
Kunkel was a wonderful teacher and mentored his
son in the trade he loved so much. Bruce brought
to the fore his talent for hand tool joinery and
wood carving that raised the level of artistry
in the pieces they created. They challenged each
other to become their personal best and together
spent some pleasurable years learning from each
other. The elder Kunkel was a man of great integrity
and persistence and would accept nothing less
from his son. He believed a piece was not complete
until all surfaces, visible or not, or polished
and then, when all the work was done it should
be signed and dated. How else in years to come
would anyone know who did it? “These pieces
are my legacy,” he would say, “they
are far better than a tombstone”.
Guitar making is a trade to which Bruce is eminently
well suited. It involves disciplines that he has
spent a lifetime developing; fine woodworking,
joinery, woodcarving, design, inlay and musicianship
all come into play.
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To order your Kunkel guitar click here..
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BRUCE
LAUNCHES HIS OWN WOODWORKING BUSINESS AND BEGINS
PRODUCING ONE OF KIND ART PIECES FOR GIBSON'S
CUSTOM SHOP
In 1981 Bruce married and relocated to rural Eastern
Pennsylvania where he ran his own woodworking
business producing high-end furniture and one
of a kind instruments. Being located near C. F.
Martin Co., he was able to buy wood and parts at
their company store. Being a prolific songwriter,
Bruce and his family relocated to Nashville,
TN in 1992 to pursue his music and instrument
making. He put in a resume with the Gibson Guitar
Co. and was interviewed by company president,
Dave Berryman, who was impressed by several
handmade instruments Bruce brought to the meeting.
He was hired to produce one of a kind art pieces
for Gibson’s Custom Shop. Bruce reproduced
the Florentine, Bella Voce, and All American
banjos for Gibson’s Centennial Celebration
in 1994. These instruments as well as several
“Tribute” guitars, and one of a
kind art pieces, have been retained by the company
in a permanent collection. The “Celebration
of Christmas 2000” and the “Tribute
to the 20th Century” Super 400s are commonly
referred to as million dollar guitars because
of the intensity of their artwork and their
uniqueness. Gibson has declined offers of up
to $600,000.00 for the “Tribute to the
20th Century”. Bruce spent six months
designing and creating the piece which is a
veritable pictorial history book displaying
135 separate images of people and events. General
Manager, Rick Gembar, was a great promoter of
Bruce’s work and encouraged him to pursue
intense, thematic projects such as the “Tribute
to Elvis” and the “Art Deco”
series.
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THE MAKING
OF FINE ART GUITARS BEGIN...
During his tenure at Gibson, Bruce was also key
in the design and creation of several limited
production runs of instruments most notably the
Corvette, the Slash, and the Old Hickory Les Pauls
to name a few. The Old Hickorys were created out
of trees from the estate of Andrew Jackson that
were toppled in a tornado in 1998. The first three
guitars were hand made by Bruce and were inlayed
with a hand cut mother of pearl banner, engraved
with the lifeline of Jackson from birth through
his military career, his presidency and through
his death. These guitars are owned by the Hermitage,
Gibson, and the Smithsonian Institution where
they are prominently displayed. In all, 175 Old
Hickorys were produced and a portion of the profits
went toward the replanting of the 1200 trees lost
at the Hermitage in the storm. The art pieces
produced by Kunkel while at Gibson are still viewable
on the company’s website where images of
Bruce working on projects can be seen. |
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THE "GOLDEN
AGE" AT GIBSON...
Midway through his Gibson years, Bruce had the
good fortune to work with DR Auten, who was hired
as a designer at the Custom Shop. Auten, a talented
luthier, guitarist and computer wizard teamed
up with Kunkel and collaborated on some amazing
projects. The two became good friends and their
interest spilled over into areas outside of work.
Bruce often refers to this period as his “Golden
Age” at Gibson. Auten’s computer and
design skills perfectly complimented Bruce’s
low tech, old world approach to the creation of
art guitars, greatly enhancing his ability to
do awesome things. Auten, who is a great photographer,
copiously documented Bruce at work on these pieces.
DR’s time at Gibson was all too short ending
in only three years. He has since relocated to
his home state; California, but the two have continued
their collaboration on a variety of projects.
DR is also a clinician for Kunkel Guitars and
has his own model, “The Heart of the Pacific”.
Many innovative design ideas have been implemented
in this model, which will be discussed in the
“Features” section. Because of
his great knowledge of guitar making and his
excellent skills, Gibson entrusted Bruce with
the restoration of priceless, historic instruments
such as Chet Atkins’ DeAngelico Excel
that Chet played on all his early recordings
and Vince Gill’s 1942 D28 Martin. Spending
a great deal of time with these important guitars
has given him a deeper understanding of what
makes them great and this knowledge he has brought
to his own guitar making. |
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THE
DESIGNER, MAKER, AND ARTIST EMERGES...
Bruce left the employ of the Gibson Company in
January 2003, to pursue his own guitar designs
and to have greater control over his total product.
He left the company on friendly terms and continues
to do art pieces for them on a contract basis.
Bruce considers his time at Gibson to have been
a unique opportunity to dedicate himself to exploring
all aspects of “The Art Guitar”. It
gave him a huge insight into fine guitar making
as a designer, maker, artist and research historian
and he has been privileged to have worked with
the most diverse, innovative and historic line
in the music industry. |
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