Sylvan Wells

Wells Guitars

 

I have been building musical instruments since 1977. I started making instruments because I could not find an acoustic guitar that sounded right in the recording studio. In the mid-sixties I was a guitar player in the band The NightCrawlers. The band was one of the first rock and roll bands from Florida to actively make records. When the rock and roll days were over, The NightCrawlers had three Billboard 100 hits and an album released on Kapp Records. Our biggest hit, “The Little Black Egg,” is an original guitar riff which I still hear new players playing thirty five years later. In 2001, the band authorized Ace Records in London, England to release a complete anthology of all of our recordings to be sold in Europe only. It quickly went through three pressings. As a result, and with our agreement, Ace now makes the CD available on Amazon.com and it continues to sell well. I am quite proud that the buyers continue to rate the CD with Amazon's highest 5 star rating!

On September 19, 2008, the world premier of the film Cracking The Egg: The Untold Story of The NightCrawlers was held at the 6th annual Daytona Beach Film Festival. I am prejudiced, but I thought the film was terrific, as it captured the personality of the band perfectly. The film was voted by the viewers as the best of the 2008 Film Festival. Off it goes to other festivals and, with luck, to your living room someday.

I’m quite proud of this period in my life. All of the band members, management, and recording staff are still great friends and are in contact with each other on a very frequent basis. Not many bands from that era can say that today! All my thanks to my bandmates and brothers, Rob Rouse, Pete Thomason, Chuck Conlon, and Tommy Ruger (the best rock and roll drummer in the business!), as well as Mike Stone, our manager, and Lee Hazen, the recording engineer that made it all possible.

When I first decided to try to make a guitar there was no help or supplies available to me.. It was largely a process of trial and error but over time the instruments got better and better. My work over the last 30 years has now evolved to encompass all styles of playing, both flatpick and fingerstyle, in standard and open tunings. My preference though, is building acoustic instruments that are specifically designed to sound great in a recording studio. Tonal balance of all notes is the primary objective in that environment. It took almost fifteen years of development but it has been achieved in the instrument I call The Mediterranean. At present, there are many of these instruments being used by session musicians all over the country! That makes me very proud. I have completed 263 guitars of all types, including acoustic, archtop and electric guitars, both hollow and solid body types. Recently, I also began constructing tenor ukelekes.

I have been an active member of the Guild of American Luthiers since 1977 and an active member of the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans since 1989. I served on the Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans Board of Directors from 2000-2004 and served as Membership Chairman and Treasurer 2003-2004. I have been published in Guitarmaker (Nos. 17, 29, 41, 42, 45, and 49), the official publication of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans. My article on String Spacing for Guitars was published by the Guild of American Luthiers way back in 1978. In addition, I have taught and participated as a panelist in discussions on various guitar subjects at Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans' Symposiums in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003.

From 1977 to 2003 my instrument building had been part-time in Florida. In July 2003, my wife Sally and I moved to the heart of the Shenandoah Valley in rural Luray, Virginia. It is now 2007 and I have spent four wonderful years in the Shenandoah Valley making all types of fretted instruments. I have enjoyed the mountains and the people immensely, but it is time to move on. In order to be near our youngest daughter and her growing family, Sally and I have now moved to the Boston area of Massachusetts. I will continue to build all types of instruments, write articles, and do some teaching. I look forward to the next phase of my life!

The New England Luthiers is an association of professionals and amateurs brought together by a common love of making stringed instruments