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Local artisan speaks at Rotary meeting

Sentinel photo by BRADLEY KREITZER
John Mannino, of Lumber City Guitars, holds up a guitar made of Koa wood as he speaks about the guitar making process during a meeting of the Rotary Club of Lewistown Tuesday afternoon at the Rec Park Community Building in Lewistown.

LEWISTOWN — Guitar maker and musician John Mannino, of Lumber City Guitars, along with his fiancee, musician Missy Kinzer, visited Rotarians Tuesday afternoon during a regular meeting of the Rotary Club of Lewistown. Mannino is a self-taught luthier who works out of his shop in Reedsville.

“It’s just a passion. I just love doing it,” Mannino said as he removed his latest project from a case, a guitar made of Koa wood and ornamented with colorful abalone shells. Mannino explained the guitar is in the “setting” stage of production.

“You lacquer and then you let it sit three, four, five weeks,” he said. “And then once the lacquer cures and settles, you go back and sand the whole thing smooth.”

Once sanded, Mannino buffs the surface of the guitar to get the shiny, smooth finishes. Mannino said this particular guitar, with all of its abalone trim, was fairly tedious and time consuming to create.

Mannino added it takes him about two to three weeks to complete the body of the instrument and then another four to five weeks for the lacquer to cure. While the lacquer is setting on one guitar, Mannino will begin work on the body of another.

“I work on them every day now,” he said. “People will ask me, ‘How did you learn how to make guitars?’ And I tell them, ‘By trial and error and error and error and error.'”

Mannino has made 41 guitars over the years. When asked how he selects the wood for his guitars, Mannino said it is hard process.

“You tap on it. You’re listening for how the wood vibrates. How much sound you’re getting out of it,” he said. “You don’t want your back and top to be vibrating on the same pitch.”

Mannino said he is starting to get recognition for his guitars from his fellow luthiers. “It feels pretty good,” he noted with a smile.

Mannino finished his presentation by playing one of his guitars and singing an original song titled “Song for Maria” about a girl he met in Chicago that was returning to Mexico with her brother to search for their parents.

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