Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

When wood sings

Luthier Dave Millard says, “Each piece of wood has inherent qualities, just like we do: a personality, a density, a vibe.” - Image by Tom Harten
Luthier Dave Millard says, “Each piece of wood has inherent qualities, just like we do: a personality, a density, a vibe.”

“I’m starting over again. I mean, this move is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” says instrument repairman/musician Dave Millard, taking a break from shuttling materials from his former home workshop in South Park to newer digs on Adams Avenue. “Twelve years ago, the move from O.B. to South Park was easy, because I was moving from a small shop to a bigger one. Now I’m going into a space about a third of the size, so I have to take some of my bigger tools, like the bandsaw, to friends’ houses.”

What prompted the move? “The South Park area has changed. The neighborhood has gentrified, and in the end, the property just became too valuable for my landlord to keep renting it out, so the owners decided to sell it. Our landlord was very cool, I’m really lucky that the rent stayed low all these years. He was very understanding of us musicians. He would even come to the jam sessions!” Millard’s South Park home wasn’t just a place to get your mandolin, guitar, or bass worked on — those jam sessions drew a crowd: “We had some incredible moments over the years. Daniel Jackson...Charles McPherson played here. Even Donna Frye came with her husband Skip!”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Millard has been making and repairing instruments since 1967, after apprenticing for three years in Texas with a master luthier. “This guy could build anything,” Millard informs the Reader, “I’ve never seen anything like him — he was building a harpsichord from scratch for a woman who played in the Dallas Symphony.”

Although his shop has become synonymous with double-bass repair, Millard had to learn those skills on his own. “When I got back here, Bert Turetzky said, ‘We need a luthier in San Diego for basses,’ so I just dove right in. ‘Intuit’ is the operative word here. The way I approach building and any kind of repair is more like a healing process, I don’t do ‘band-aid’ fixes, so the repair is more long-lasting.

“Each piece of wood has inherent qualities, just like we do: a personality, a density, a vibe to it. I ask myself what the piece of wood needs, and I keep working with it, planing and sanding it until it becomes an entity in itself — it’s another art form. When you get someone’s instrument in tune with itself, and it’s really singing, that’s a wonderful feeling.”

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Barrio Logan’s very good Dogg

Chicano comfort food proves plenty spicy
Luthier Dave Millard says, “Each piece of wood has inherent qualities, just like we do: a personality, a density, a vibe.” - Image by Tom Harten
Luthier Dave Millard says, “Each piece of wood has inherent qualities, just like we do: a personality, a density, a vibe.”

“I’m starting over again. I mean, this move is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” says instrument repairman/musician Dave Millard, taking a break from shuttling materials from his former home workshop in South Park to newer digs on Adams Avenue. “Twelve years ago, the move from O.B. to South Park was easy, because I was moving from a small shop to a bigger one. Now I’m going into a space about a third of the size, so I have to take some of my bigger tools, like the bandsaw, to friends’ houses.”

What prompted the move? “The South Park area has changed. The neighborhood has gentrified, and in the end, the property just became too valuable for my landlord to keep renting it out, so the owners decided to sell it. Our landlord was very cool, I’m really lucky that the rent stayed low all these years. He was very understanding of us musicians. He would even come to the jam sessions!” Millard’s South Park home wasn’t just a place to get your mandolin, guitar, or bass worked on — those jam sessions drew a crowd: “We had some incredible moments over the years. Daniel Jackson...Charles McPherson played here. Even Donna Frye came with her husband Skip!”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Millard has been making and repairing instruments since 1967, after apprenticing for three years in Texas with a master luthier. “This guy could build anything,” Millard informs the Reader, “I’ve never seen anything like him — he was building a harpsichord from scratch for a woman who played in the Dallas Symphony.”

Although his shop has become synonymous with double-bass repair, Millard had to learn those skills on his own. “When I got back here, Bert Turetzky said, ‘We need a luthier in San Diego for basses,’ so I just dove right in. ‘Intuit’ is the operative word here. The way I approach building and any kind of repair is more like a healing process, I don’t do ‘band-aid’ fixes, so the repair is more long-lasting.

“Each piece of wood has inherent qualities, just like we do: a personality, a density, a vibe to it. I ask myself what the piece of wood needs, and I keep working with it, planing and sanding it until it becomes an entity in itself — it’s another art form. When you get someone’s instrument in tune with itself, and it’s really singing, that’s a wonderful feeling.”

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

SD Symphony singer tells what it’s like behind the scenes

Conductor Payare even looks like Mahler
Next Article

Issa aide collaborates with Ukrainians

Carlsbad's Tracy Slepcevic, Warrior Mom, and her ties to RFK, Jr.
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader