Part 2: The Anderson Touch

HC: Explain the logic of having a bolt-on neck.

Anderson: There are three main ways to make a neck. You have bolt-on, glued-in necks, and neck-through. I like the way bolt-on necks sound. That's why we do what we do. I don't like the sound of a neck-through personally. All I'm saying is my opinion, it's what I like. These are things that hold true for our guitars. I'm not going to say that this would apply to any other companies because I don't know. Bolt-on necks transfer the sound differently than glued on necks. I think why I like bolt-on necks better is because the screws apply a constant pressure. If you look at our guitars, the bolt-on neck fits as well as if it had been glued on. It [the neck] squeezes into the body, it doesn't float in the body like some bolt-on necks you see. As far as stability, I don't give up anything by bolting it on. I feel like there is a better articulation with a bolt-on neck. It also allows you to use different woods for the body and the neck. I like the sound of softer wood bodies and harder wood necks. I don't feel that it is any easier to bolt-on a neck than the other procedures [neck-through and glued]. If you were to slop the neck on, it would be easier to bolt it on [but Anderson doesn't do that]. Our neck joints are milled to a couple of thousandths [of an inch, very close for a guitar joint], and then they are hand fitted before they are painted.

HC: What are the advantages of the Buzz Feiten tuning system and how does it work?

Anderson: That could be an article all on its own [laughs]. There are two kinds of people in the world. There are some people that think that intonation is no problem on a guitar. To them I say don't read the rest of my response. There are others of us, who after playing guitars for a number of years, realize that certain chords can never be in tune with one another. Play an open A chord and an open D chord, and if you can make both of those chords sound nicely in tune you're a magician. Make any chord perfectly in tune and then play an open D chord and the F# on the D chord will sound really sharp. [The Feiten system] involved moving the nut closer to the first fret and intonating the guitar to non-standard temperaments. Normally the 12th fret is exactly one octave higher than the open string. In Buzz's system it is not exactly an octave. It varies from string to string, but some strings are tuned flat and some sharp of the octave. What it gives you is a guitar that plays more in tune with itself from the first fret to the last fret. This is called tempered tuning. We all try to temper our guitar without even knowing it. I could hand a tuned guitar to you for you to play and I'll bet you'll retune the guitar. You'll change something just slightly. If you're a person who tunes their guitar by ear, our guitars are made for you.

HC: Explain the advantages of the L.R. Baggs X-Bridge system (the acoustic pickup system mentioned above) and why you choose to include it as an option in your instruments?

Anderson: I loved the concept when I heard it on the Parker Fly. I really think that was the first commercial success with having acoustic and electric pickups on the same instrument. But, we have spent so many years trying to make our electric guitars sound the way they do that I didn't want to give up any of that to add this acoustic thing. The electric guitar part had to be totally transparent with this acoustic thing. The problem with the other systems that were available was that they all made the electric guitar part have to go active. All our electronics are passive on our electric guitars. When you change that it changes the tone, it just has to. We just weren't willing to accept that.

So in comes Lloyd Baggs who we have known for quite some time and says, "I'm thinking about doing an acoustic bridge, would you like to have some input". I said I would love to have some input. If you [Baggs] could put your system into our bridge, I would be thrilled. If we could figure out a way to make it run so that our electric pickups never had to go active, then I would be thrilled. If you could make it so it could go stereo or mono and still remain active on the acoustic only and passive on the electric, I would really be thrilled. They gave us everything we wanted, every single feature. The normal electric function of our guitars is exactly the same with or without the X-Bridge. We gave up absolutely zero to get the X-Bridge.

About 15% of our guitars now have the X-Bridge system in it. That was more than I thought we would sell. I mean it's not $25 more, it's like $350-$400 more for the guitar with that. But if you think of what its replacing, that's a good deal.

HC: Of your guitars, what is your favorite model and why?

Anderson: For me our Cobra is my favorite guitar. When I grew up I was playing Les Pauls and Teles. I was never really a Strat guy. I bought lots of Strats in my life and I usually sold them after one gig because they didn't work for me. A Cobra is not a Les Paul or a Tele, but a Cobra does all the things I liked about a Les Paul and it does a lot of the things I liked about a Tele. I think if I was a Strat guy I would love our Classic. We try to build what we like.

Hollow Cobra in Cherry Burst (Flame Maple/Mahogany)

HC: Not including Anderson guitars, what is your favorite guitar and why?

Anderson: I have two acoustic guitars made by Jim Olson in Minnesota. They are the best guitars I've ever played. They are outstanding acoustic guitars. If you have ever seen James Taylor or David Wilcox, those guys I know play Olsons and they [the Olson guitars] are magical. I've played a half a dozen of them and they have all been magical. I love Larrivee acoustics. I am particularly fond of cedar top acoustic guitars. Terry McInturff makes great guitars. PRS makes a great guitar. There are lots of people who make great guitars. Different people have different sonic taste. Jim Olson [guitars] just speak to me that way. There are tons of great guitars. Taylor is making great guitars. Collings is making great guitars. There are a bunch of people making great guitars today, both electric and acoustic. We are seeing the best guitars ever being made right now. The lucky consumer just has to pick the one that speaks to him.

HC: Being a smaller guitar company, what are your hopes and aspirations for the future?

Anderson: I like being a small guitar company. We have no aspirations of becoming Fender or even PRS. PRS makes in a month almost what we make in a year. That is perfectly OK with me. We don't aspire to that. We're happy where we're at. We'll probably grow a little bit, because as you get better at something you tend to make more product. We have seventeen people and I can't image twenty. Twenty sounds a little scary. The thought of having sixty people around here . . . I'd want to be somewhere else. I'd be really sad if I didn't like to come to work, and I really like to come to work now. Someday we may make 1000 guitars in a year, but for now 800 is just fine and dandy.

HC: What would you like the world to know about Tom Anderson that they don't already know?

Anderson: Oh boy . . . oh boy . . . I have the most amazing wife and three kids that make my heart jump for joy when I go home. That is the best thing in the world. No matter what you do you can't get caught up in it and make it run your life. Your family is the most important thing. Guitars are really fun and I'd like to think that we make some really great stuff, but it is zero compared to my family.

The Crew

I found Tom to be friendly, personable, articulate, and interesting. He took almost two hours out of his busy schedule to talk to me and I think he would have be willing to take two more hours without batting an eye if I had needed it. He's the kind of guy you would like to invite to dinner. I'd like to thank Tom for his candid answers and the time he spent with me. I'd also like to thank Laurie Berg, Tom's business partner, for all her invaluable help in setting up this article.

During the interview, Tom told me that he never had any real hardships. As a Christian, Tom feels that God has always provided for him. Well that may be true, or maybe not, but it's nice to know that good guys can finish on top. Good luck Tom and keep doing what you do.

If you like this article, drop me a line at cliffnotes@harmony-central.com. I'd be interested to know how many people are interested in a review article on Tom Anderson guitars. Also your viewpoints, comments, article ideas, even questions are welcome. Once again, you can visit the Anderson Guitars web site at www.andersonguitars.com.

As always, Keep Jamming,

Cliff

Cliff Suttle (cliffnotes@harmony-central.com) has been studying music for over twenty years including studies at the University of Michigan. Fluent on keyboards, guitar, and bass, Cliff is currently playing in an all original rock band Middle Earth. Cliff's motto: Understand the theory and you can play anything.