First Posted 14:33:00 03/04/2008
Filed Under: Economy, Business & Finance
Cris Evert Lato Cebu Daily News
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines ? Highly skilled workers are needed in the making of guitars in Lapu-Lapu City to meet the demand from the tourism and export sectors.
Fernando Dagoc, owner of Ferangeli Guitar Handcrafter, said the company needs at least six months before it can deliver the products needed by clients.
The company exports guitars and ukeleles to Canada, Spain and Hawaii.
Most skills in guitar-making are passed on from one generation to the next. Dagoc is a third generation guitar maker.
Local guitar production is a crude process which starts from cooking the wood manually to remove the resin, which will cause the wood to crack immediately.
Weather temperature is also noted to ensure that guitars are in good condition when they reach their destination.
The company only has 22 workers.
Lack of skilled workers is the reason it takes at least 45 days to finish one high-end guitar, which is priced between P6,500 to P30,000.
Only 12 guitars can be finished in six months.
The company also exports guitar parts to other manufacturers in Lapu-Lapu City and in other countries.
At present, 40 pieces of customized fret boards are ordered by a Canadian company. Each fret board piece costs P3, 000.
Fernando Alegre, proprietor of Alegre Guitars, said his company only has three highly skilled workers who can assemble all guitar parts.
Around six are only helpers. To cope with the lack of workers, Alegre said he sub-contracts to neighbors.
Alegre, who is a third generation guitar maker, said it is hard to look for guitar makers since the work involves learning the craft since childhood.
?My father learned guitar making when he was six years old because they were exposed to the work by their parents,? he said.
The lack of highly skilled workers is also the main reason why the company does not export guitars.
He said the quality of their guitars will be affected if they choose to increase production due to export demand.
Instead, they cater to tourists who come to Lapu-Lapu City to buy guitars.
One worker can finished four low-end guitars in one week, but one worker can only finished one high-end guitar in two months.
The quality of the guitar depends on the wood used for its sound board and fret boards, among others.
Internationally-accepted wood materials are spruce and cedar. In the Philippines, jackfruit, acacia and mango wood are often used as alternative materials.
For Alegre Guitars, one high-end guitar costs between P50,000 to P80,000.
Although his company is not affected by the proliferation of cheap guitars, he noted that companies who produce low-end guitars may be greatly affected by the products coming from China.
Source: Cebu Daily News
