Ervin V. Somogyi (born 1944) is a pioneer of steel string guitar making. Considered to be one of its leading practitioners and authorities, he is most highly regarded for the high level of his craftsmanship, the originality of his designs, and especially for his control of the voicing and the sound of this instruments.[1] He is also an influential teacher who has helped shape the work of many of the new generation of up-and-coming American, European, and Japanese instrument builders.[2]
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Born in Budapest, Hungary, Ervin Somogyi fled Europe with his family during World War II. After living in Austria, England, Cuba and Mexico, he eventually moved to the United States at age 15. After graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in English, he joined the Peace Corps, worked in a mental hospital, attended graduate school and supported himself as a flamenco guitarist, but he eventually gravitated back to the East Bay, which has been his home base since about 1972, he says.[3]
Building guitars started out as a hobby. At first, Somogyi had little hope of making a living at it, he says. With few how-to books available or schools where he could take classes, he learned primarily by getting his hands on some well-made instruments and studying them. “It was a very oddball activity,” he says. Now, as one of the “grand old men” of American lutherie, Somogyi is often invited to lecture at guitar shows and exhibitions.[3]
Building primarily high-end steel-string guitars that sell for over $30,000 each, Somogyi cultivates a clientele of serious musicians—such as the late John Denver and Michael Hedges, and fingerstyle master Alex de Grassi—as well as collectors who buy his instruments as investments.[3] Recording artists such as Daniel Hecht[4] and George Winston list Somogyi as the builder of their guitars for several past and present albums.[5]
Ervin Somogyi is best known for the high level of his craftsmanship, his original designs, and his control of the voicing and sound of his instruments.[6]
Somogyi makes six main models of acoustic steel string guitars: jumbo, dreadnought, "modified dreadnought" or Mod-D, OM, OOO and OO models. He can make any of these models in a 12-Fret version .[7]
Somogyi guitars are frequently played and recorded with by world-class performing artists. To date some of the recording projects have been:
Shun Komatsubara, "Dear", Abend Compact Disc; "Naturally", "Scene", “Crayons”, Clip Records[8]
Masaaki Kishibe, "Secret"
Maurizio Angeletti, "Go Fly a Kite", Moondance Records
Pat Donohue, "Manhattan to Memphis", Red House Records; "Life Stories", "Back Roads", Blue Sky Records
Steve Erquiaga, "Erkiology", Windham Hill Records; "Cafe Paradiso", Imaginary Road Records
Edward Gerhard, "Night Birds", Reckless Records; "Luna" and "Christmas", Virtue Records
Mark O"Connor, "Live with Stephane Grapelli and David Grisman", "False Dawn" and "Stone From Which the Arch Was Made", Warner Bros. Records
Brother Andrew, "Flying Guitars", AMB Productions
Alex de Grassi, "Southern Exposure", "Slow Circle"; Windham Hill Records
Will Ackerman, "Past Light", Windham Hill Records
Greg Gumbel, "California Republic", Meticulous Records, Inc.
Steve Hancoff, "Steel String Guitar", "New Orleans Guitar Solos", “Duke Ellington for Solo Guitar”, Out of Time . . . Music Co.
Daniel Hecht, "Willow", Windham Hill Records
Maggie Sansone, "Dulcimer and Guitar"
Alan Tower, "The Understory - Messages of Intimacy From the Thinking Earth", Geomantic Music
Michael Hedges, "Breakfast In The Field", Windham Hill Records
8th Avenue String Band, "On Stage", 8th Ave. String Band Music
The Natives, "East of the Equator", Meticulous Records, Inc.
The California Guitar Trio, "Pathways", “Rocks the West”, Discipline (GM);
Isato Nakagawa, “Wind From the Sun”, Naniwa Records; “It’s Time For Tea”, Sony Music
Peta, “Majin No Mizuumi”, “Powder Snow”, Sailing Ice Music
Somogyi has participated in many guitar exhibitions, conventions, and symposia in the USA, Canada, and Japan over the last forty-plus years.
In 2006 Somogyi curated the first public exhibition of contemporary lutherie arts anywhere, for the Arts Commission of the City of Berkeley, California. The show detailed various stages of guitar and ukulele construction as practiced by working luthiers. The display was connected by a well-organized narrative signage that made otherwise dry woodworking processes intelligible and interesting to the public. An animated diorama of this special exhibit can be seen on Somogyi’s website. In 2009 Somogyi helped curate an exhibition of California guitar makers for the Oakland Museum, for display at the Oakland International Airport.