About
Guitars Built in the Heart of Switzerland
Amongst mountains of cheese and chocolate, there is a small basement guitar-building workshop called Dark Art Guitars. Currently, it is just me, David Wieland, building guitars as a passion in my spare time. This means you don't deal with some big factory, but directly with me, the luthier building your instrument.
Embracing Technology
While I don't have any hired human help, being an engineer myself I love to harness technology to make my job easier. For guitar building, this manifests itself in my robot assistant the CNC router. It allows me to cut out the exact shape I want for the guitar as well as create intricate inlay with relative ease. But if you think it does all the work, sadly you couldn't be further from the truth.
The Feel of an Instrument
A robot is great at repeating a pre-programmed path exactly, but it can not read the wood and feel the instrument. That is why after the shape is roughly cut out I spend many hours fine-tuning the shape, making sure the neck as well as all the transitions and surfaces you as the player interact with feel right. This also means working with the wood and reading it to get the best finish possible.
Want to see me at work?
On my YouTube channel you can see me building your guitars. Sometimes I just share a montage, but other times I narrate the process to give you even more insights into my work. I also share other interesting things happening around the workshop.
See what I’m currently working on:
