8 LI • JULY 29, 2010 • LONG ISLANDER LIFE

Remnants of a happy birthday decoration stick to aglass door along Larkfield Road in East Northport.Purple, yellow and black stars shine on the brick build-ing. The word “happy” remains, and it’s a perfect way todescribe the man behind the door.

Joseph Jesselli will be turning 62 in August, but he’sbeen making high-end guitars with a unique artistic flairfor more than 20 years at Jesselli Guitars, and he’s notquite ready to stop.

“I’m not thinking about retiring,” Jesselli said. “This ispart of my life. This is not a job. It’s like any other pro-fession.”

Sporting more than a few gray hairs and no limitationson sharing his thoughts on life, Jesselli is actually some-thing of a celebrity in hiding. He’s created about 150 gui-tars, each typically selling for $10,000-$25,000.Unfinished experiments litter his unfinished shop, lyingabout the machines, tools and materials littering the flo-rescent-lit cinder block walls.

Some of his guitars have ended up in the hands of well-known musicians, like Rolling Stones guitarist KeithRichards. Richards used three of Jesselli’s guitars,including a leather and gold-plated axe, on their “TooMuch Blood” album in 1984. He later arranged for thecraftsman to visit them, where he challenged Jesselli tofigure out which of his guitars he was using while listen-ing.

The guitar maker said he’s a big fan of Richards andwas happy to do business with him, but that his instru-ments are also purchased by regular people.

“I don’t make a star’s guitar any better,” Jesselli said.

“The reason people buy my guitars is because they likemy style.”

And Jesselli Guitars are truly masterpieces, just asmuch artwork as musical instruments. Jesselli has threetenants for making “great” guitars: They must featuregreat designs, great materials and great sound.

The guitar maker loves the curving lines of ArtNouveau and geometric shapes of Art Deco; he alsoprefers to blend lines and planes with each other in lieuof stacking shapes on top of each other. His colors rangefrom black to white, with all sorts of browns, golds andothers in between. He views the world through an artist’seye, examining architecture, furniture and other parts ofdaily life.

“It’s an integral part of my lifestyle,” he said. “It’s trulyamazing how some things don’t wear on you. Beauty isone of them.”

Another major component for the aesthetics ofJesselli’s instruments is his vast collection of resources.Wood at a lumber yard is fine for most projects, but notat this East Northport shop. Jesselli has built a large,unusual and expensive collection of wood over the years,often just a few pieces at a time. A plank of walnut, hepointed out, costs a few thousand dollars.

Jesselli also has planks of mahogany, ebony and otherwoods littering shelves in the back of his shop. But thatwood can’t just be slapped together either. Every piecemust sit for 10 years in his possession to ensure it fullycures and doesn’t warp shortly after he builds the instru-ment.

Jesselli also has stores of jade, silver, gold leaf, buffalo

horn – which he calls “nature’s plastic” – baleen and sha-green – the rough skin of a ray.

“Do you know how ridiculous it would look if I made aguitar and put on knobs that belong on a Fender?” hesaid, pointing to knobs with decorative metals.

Yes, Jesselli makes the knobs. He also manufacturesthe bodies, head stock and bridges – all by hand. The gui-tar maker sketches out designs, then cuts out blocky ver-sions of the body and neck. It is only after finer wood-working, intricate inlays and truss rod installations arefinished does he attach the two.

Jesselli learned his way around a piece of woodthrough an apprenticeship with Huntington woodcarverMarcos Baiter during the 1970s. He also learned aboutart deco from the master craftsmen. But when theyounger Jesselli approached famed jazz guitar makerJames D’Aquisto about building a neck for a Spanish-style guitar he was making, D’Aquisto offered him anoth-er apprenticeship.

“You have to let him know he is unfreakingbelievablebecause every artist has huge egos,” Jesselli said.“Information is given freely, except for the magic stuff.That’s only a percent. Most really good guys won’t sellthat; they’ll only give it to the guys worthy of it.”

Jesselli Guitars first opened in the 1980s closer toQueens. He moved to Huntington, before spending 18years in West Virginia. While the cost of living was muchcheaper, the culture shock was a bit much and Jesselliwas happy to move to East Northport two years ago.

“I like the place I’m in now. I hate moving,” he said.Early on in his career, Jesselli enjoyed experimenting.

Now a more seasoned guitar maker, he prefers ideas he’smore confident will work, especially since each guitarcan require at least a year to create.

Fortunately for the guitar maker and his customers,his designing skills have vastly improved with age. Hiscreations used to end up “50 percent” of what he imag-ined, a disappointing number for Jesselli.

“What comes out in the real world after I beat it intosubmission, it’s like I saw it. It’s freaking weird. Thingsare good, or better,” he said.

Jesselli also pledged that all of his finished guitarssound amazing, even if he personally can’t get the mostout of them. The guitar maker admitted he can playsome, but is far from great. But having a basic knowledgeof sounds and guitars is essential, Jesselli said, for build-ing customers’ guitars or fixing axes.

“They want you to understand what they want the gui-tar to do, how they want it to act when you pull on thestring. Some guys want the guitar to fight them a bit. Theguitar players may be great, but they can be just as gooda player and not know that stuff,” he said. “Unless youknow, you won’t know what the hell they want you to do.”

Jesselli Can Get SatisfactionWoodcarver makes artistic guitars by hand that sell for $25,000

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By Mike Koehlermkoehler@longislandernews.com Joseph Jesselli measures a truss rod on an unfinished neck to give the guitar support.

Planks of ebony, mahogany, walnut and other woods, as wellas pieces of silver, jade and other materials litter JesselliGuitars.

LIfe

photos/Mike K

oehler

Promoting Literacy Among The Youth

Published poet Anne Kingsbury takes students inthe Walt Whitman Birthplace’s “Children’s Pau-manok Summer Program” on a literary adventure.

The written word is a much a part of art and culture as paintbrushes and the sound of music, and instilling its value in youngpeople is a mission the Walt Whitman Birthplace takes seriously.

The Birthplace recently held their “Children’s PaumanokSummer Program” for children ages 8-12, offering them a uniqueopportunity to experience a literary, creative, educational, histori-cal and fun adventure.

Published poet and experienced art instructor Anne Kingsburyguided the participants in various activities. All emulated WaltWhitman with daily themes written in the Birthplace, createdinspiration stones using their own poetry, wrote new lyrics to exist-ing songs, explored rhyme and free verse, produced a booklet oftheir poetry and even wrote their own Leaves of Grass while con-templating the grass and sitting on stepping stones outsideWhitman’s house. The week concluded with the children readingtheir work on stage for their parents and receiving a quill pen as aparting remembrance.