3 0 g e n e s e o scene

The smell of the alder wood ashe gently sands the body. Thefeel of the finished guitar cra-dled in his lap. The tight,punchy twang when he plucksthe low-B string.

Roger Sadowsky ’70 loves itall. He is the man behind themusic of legends like BruceSpringsteen, Prince andGilberto Gil. Famous artistsand aficionados seek him outfor handcrafted guitars, 80hours in the making. As ownerand founder of SadowskyGuitars, he has created outletsfor their musical muse formore than three decades.

Oddly enough for a guitarman, Sadowsky couldn’t struma note until he was in his 20s. A folk festival his junior yearchanged all that. There were alot of hippies and macraméand wonderful music madewith banjos and acoustic gui-tars, he remembers.

“I felt at home there,” he says.He bought a $40 guitar the

next day and taught himselfthe chords. He played on cam-pus with former AssistantProfessor and former InterimProvost Frederick Fidura, a 30-year veteran of theDepartment of Psychology,who was a mentor. He stillconsiders the retired professorone of the most influentialpeople in his life.

It was because of Fidura,Sadowsky says, that “I reallybecame committed to doingthings the best that I could.That is a feeling and a lifeexperience that has alwaysstayed with me. I’ve applied itto everything in my life.”

After earning his bachelorof science at Geneseo, focus-ing on psychology, Sadowsky

landed a primo spot inRutgers University’s renownedgraduate program. Two yearsin, he knew it wasn’t his call-ing. Instead, he followed hisdream of becoming a masterguitar-maker.

“I thought, ‘If I can implantan electrode in a rat’s brain, Icould build a guitar,’” he says.

Renowned craftsman AugieLoPrinzi offered him anapprenticeship in 1972.

“ … I woke up thinkingabout guitars. I went to sleepthinking about guitars,” saysS a d o w s k y. “No matter how dif-

ficult something was, I lovede v e ry bit of it.”

Seven years later, helaunched Sadowsky Guitars inNew York City. The first fewyears, he worked seven days aweek, 12 hours a day in a stu-dio that doubled as an apart-ment — with a hot plate and atoilet in one closet and a show-er in the other. His big breakcame in 1982, when PaulS i m o n ’s guitar broke as he andArt Garfunkel rehearsed theirreunion tour. They came toS a d o w s k y, who later built a cus-tom guitar for Simon.

Sadowsky has kept his shopsmall but his list of clientssteadily grows, including U2and Prince. Many clients arechurch or part-time musicianswho want a quality instrument.

Sadowsky completes the deli-cate neck work and inspectseach of the 25 or so guitars

produced each month in hisBrooklyn shop. His instru-ments are sold in 23 countries.

Former mentor Fidura isproud that Sadowsky discov-ered his calling, inside the labor out.

“I think of that as part ofbeing one of my very best stu-dents,” says Fidura. “I feel it’sexciting that he found some-thing very unique at which hee x c e l s . ”

Fidura, in fact, has a Sadowskyoriginal acoustic. And, he stillplays the old Martin he jammedon with Sadowsky at Geneseodecades ago. Sadowsky addedan intricate inlay to the guitar,of which there are only two inthe world.

Sadowsky has the other.— Kris Dre e s s e n

A l u m ’s passion st r i kes the right chord

A LUMNI P R O F I L E

Roger Sadows ky ’70 found his muse cre ating handmade guitars.

c l a ss o f

’ 70Ro g e r

S a d ows ky

A b ove, Frederick Fidura playsthe guitar Roger Sadows ky’ 70 built for him.