Guitar and Lute Workshop
The Guitar and Lute Workshop floor, circa 1974. This photograph was taken from the second story of the office space where the Galliard Press linotype press was located.
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| Private | |
| Industry | Musical Instruments |
| Founded | Honolulu, Hawaii, 1970 |
| Defunct | 1976 |
| Products | Various Stringed Instruments |
The Guitar and Lute Workshop (GLW) was a manufacturer of custom guitars, ukuleles, and period stringed instruments based in Honolulu, Hawaii between 1970 and 1976. The workshop was known primarily for the talented luthiers employed in either construction of guitars, or the musicians that taught at the workshop or that used guitars made at the workshop. Additionally, an independent piano restoration and tuning business operated above the workshop floor and studios for at least two years. The GLW was notable as a nexus of activity supporting native Hawaiian musical cultural discovery during the Second Hawaiian Renaissance of the 1970s, with key Hawaiian musicians such as Keola Beamer and Kapono Beamer gaining starts in their careers at the GLW, as well as musical instrument restoration for instruments of Hawaiian royalty (of the Kingdom of Hawaii), now curated by ʻIolani Palace. Additionally, the GLW's focus on traditional period stringed instruments was, in part, responsible for the resurgent interest in the viol and traditional luthierie methods within the western United States in the early 1970s.
The Guitar and Lute Workshop was started by Donald C. Marienthal, George Gilmore, and Keola Beamer in 1970 and was based in a warehouse building at 1229 Waimanu Street, one block west of the southernmost Piikoi entrance to Ala Moana Shopping Center. A retail outlet to the manufacturing facility was later opened nearby at 404 Piikoi Street. The workshop closed in 1976. The warehouse was demolished ca. 1998 to make way for two large commercial properties at 88 Piikoi Street and the KHON television studios.
Keola Beamer recalls the early days of the GLW: "In my early twenties, I was making guitars with George Gilmore and Donald Marienthal. We had the wild idea we could make nice guitars out of koa and mango wood so we took out a loan from the Small Business Administration and started the Guitar and Lute Workshop on Waimanu Street in Honolulu. People started coming in to ask about slack key. There were very few teachers back then, so I agreed to try it."
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