Ivon Schmukler Guitar Builders and Repairers

The day Ivon Schmukler walked into Mark Silber’s Fretted Instruments shop above the Waverly Theater on 6th Ave in New York City in 1963 his life changed. The store was full of vintage Martins , Gibsons, Vegas Fairmanks banjos, examples off what would become the most sought-after fretted instruments in the world. He fell in love with this room full of musical instrument gems. He never looked back.

As the son of a sculptor/jeweler and a piano teacher, his parents instilled in him a love for fine art and craft. Over the years he has been a jeweler, carver, knife maker and newspaper reporter and editor. He was a guitar player as well, playing in the New York folk scene. He attended CCNY, a hotbed of politics and music. In the early 1960's he found himself spending much of his time in Greenwich Village’s music scene. In 1965, joining with Jeffery Levin and Matt Umanov in the Fall Creek Instrument Works, he began repairing and restoring fretted instruments. By the early ‘70s had become one of the first C.F. Martin approved independent repairmen.

After returning to New York City in 1971, he shared a shop in the Village with Lucian Barns a student of the famous classical guitar makers Manuel Velazquez and David Rubio. Ivon performed some of the early Martin arched-top conversions after seeing one done by John Lundberg, building the very first from scratch OOOO-style guitars in 1972.

In the early 70s, Ivon taught Woodworking in the SUNY (State University of New York) system and continues to teach guitar making, repair and related topics at the Leeds Guitarmakers School in Williamsburg Ma.

Over the years he has perfected his craft. Starting in the C.F. Martin tradition he has brought technical and acoustic advances in structure from the design of modern classical guitars to the steel string guitar. These guitars are truly unique. They are Artisan Fretted Instruments by Ivon Schmukler.