Entrevista a Abigail Ybarra y Herb Gastelum, 1999
Publicado: 15 Jun 2015, 12:07
He encontrado esta entrevista que se publicó en el Frontline de Fender en el 99.
Abigail, en el tema de pastillas, y Gastelum sobre todo en mástiles han sido referencia en la historia de Fender.
Así que aquí os dejo esta añeja entrevista:
Since its founding in the 1940's, Fender's reputation has always been as a family-oriented company, a place where the prime motivation has been a love of music and a place that breeds the life-long commitment of its workers. From a small crew of 50 workers in the 50's to over 2000 today, the company's spirit has remained the same.
While many faces have changed over the years, several Fender employees work today at essentially the same jobs they have done for several decades. Through the years, these Fender veterans have practiced the attention to detail and tried-and-true manufacturing techniques they learned from Leo Fender, Freddie Tavares, George Fullerton and the rest of the founding fathers of such classic gear as the Telecaster, Stratocaster, Twin Reverb and Vibrolux.
Two such factory veterans are Abigail Ybarra and Herbie Gastelum, both of whom work now at the Fender Custom Shop in Corona, California.
Abigail Ybarra entered the musical instrument industry in the summer of 1956, when she went to work in the woodshop at the Fender factory in Fullerton. She began working on frets, then moved into sanding before finally transferring into pickup winding in 1959. She has been winding pickups ever since.
Herbie Gastelum joined Fender in 1961. Like Abigail, he moved around a bit within the factory before finding his area of expertise. Gastelum began buffing guitar bodies, spent a little time in the spray booth, and then settled in as a neck shaper, the job he holds now at the Custom Shop.
"In those days," says Gastelum , "if things got a little slow in your department, you worked wherever they needed you."
The experience and skill veteran workers like Herbie and Abigail bring to Fender are part and parcel of the continuing tradition of Fender guitars. They are indeed the link between the Telecaster that Jeff Beck played in the Yardbirds and the Custom Shop '52 Telecaster you can buy today. The same techniques that made the original Fender guitars so great are preserved and enhanced by people like Abby, Herbie and several other long-time Fender employees.
"All I do," says Ybarra, "is wind and solder the way Leo wanted us to do it. Things that we used to do over there, at Leo's in Fullerton, we do here now. We still work as hard, probably harder, to keep up the quality."
"Some people," adds Gastelum, "say the necks in the 50's and 60's were better than they are now. But in my opinion, I think the necks - even the whole instrument - is a lot better now than in the 'good old days.' Believe me, I've seen the work, and it's a lot more detailed and a lot more critical than in years past."
Having given so much of their lives to the crafting of Fender guitars, Abby and Herbie take justifiable pride in the work they've done over the years.
"I'm very proud," says Abby. "Whenever I'm out in music stores , I always look for our guitars. On TV, I always look for our guitars."
Herbie feels the same kind of pride whenever he sees a Fender on television.
"I know I might have worked on part of that instrument ," he explains. "I respect the people who play guitar. When I listen to them, it makes me feel good inside. Some guys play the guitar almost like talking."
Both Herbie and Abby are keys to the quality of the Custom Shop production-line team, contributing their experience and skill to such models as the NOS Strat and the new Closet Classic series. The NOS Strat features exact replicas of '65 pickups that are wound and hand-signed by Abigail, and the necks are slotted by Herbie using the same neck slotter used in the Fullerton factory when he started working there.
When asked how long they plan to keep doing what they're doing, neither Abigail nor Herbie can see an end in sight.
"People sometimes say, "How can you keep doing the same job for so many years?" says Gastelum. "Well, it might be the same job, but there's always something to learn. Every neck, every piece is a little different. Working with wood is challenging to me. When you don't enjoy your job, the time just drags. I've been here 35 years, but it seems just like yesterday. Maybe that's because I enjoy my job."
"As long as I'm healthy," adds Ybarra, "and I can get up in the morning and come to work, I'll be here. There's no stress here, and I like it when somebody like (CS Master Builder) Jay Black comes to me and needs something special, something different, and we work together to come up with the right pickup."
Abigail, en el tema de pastillas, y Gastelum sobre todo en mástiles han sido referencia en la historia de Fender.
Así que aquí os dejo esta añeja entrevista:
Since its founding in the 1940's, Fender's reputation has always been as a family-oriented company, a place where the prime motivation has been a love of music and a place that breeds the life-long commitment of its workers. From a small crew of 50 workers in the 50's to over 2000 today, the company's spirit has remained the same.
While many faces have changed over the years, several Fender employees work today at essentially the same jobs they have done for several decades. Through the years, these Fender veterans have practiced the attention to detail and tried-and-true manufacturing techniques they learned from Leo Fender, Freddie Tavares, George Fullerton and the rest of the founding fathers of such classic gear as the Telecaster, Stratocaster, Twin Reverb and Vibrolux.
Two such factory veterans are Abigail Ybarra and Herbie Gastelum, both of whom work now at the Fender Custom Shop in Corona, California.
Abigail Ybarra entered the musical instrument industry in the summer of 1956, when she went to work in the woodshop at the Fender factory in Fullerton. She began working on frets, then moved into sanding before finally transferring into pickup winding in 1959. She has been winding pickups ever since.
Herbie Gastelum joined Fender in 1961. Like Abigail, he moved around a bit within the factory before finding his area of expertise. Gastelum began buffing guitar bodies, spent a little time in the spray booth, and then settled in as a neck shaper, the job he holds now at the Custom Shop.
"In those days," says Gastelum , "if things got a little slow in your department, you worked wherever they needed you."
The experience and skill veteran workers like Herbie and Abigail bring to Fender are part and parcel of the continuing tradition of Fender guitars. They are indeed the link between the Telecaster that Jeff Beck played in the Yardbirds and the Custom Shop '52 Telecaster you can buy today. The same techniques that made the original Fender guitars so great are preserved and enhanced by people like Abby, Herbie and several other long-time Fender employees.
"All I do," says Ybarra, "is wind and solder the way Leo wanted us to do it. Things that we used to do over there, at Leo's in Fullerton, we do here now. We still work as hard, probably harder, to keep up the quality."
"Some people," adds Gastelum, "say the necks in the 50's and 60's were better than they are now. But in my opinion, I think the necks - even the whole instrument - is a lot better now than in the 'good old days.' Believe me, I've seen the work, and it's a lot more detailed and a lot more critical than in years past."
Having given so much of their lives to the crafting of Fender guitars, Abby and Herbie take justifiable pride in the work they've done over the years.
"I'm very proud," says Abby. "Whenever I'm out in music stores , I always look for our guitars. On TV, I always look for our guitars."
Herbie feels the same kind of pride whenever he sees a Fender on television.
"I know I might have worked on part of that instrument ," he explains. "I respect the people who play guitar. When I listen to them, it makes me feel good inside. Some guys play the guitar almost like talking."
Both Herbie and Abby are keys to the quality of the Custom Shop production-line team, contributing their experience and skill to such models as the NOS Strat and the new Closet Classic series. The NOS Strat features exact replicas of '65 pickups that are wound and hand-signed by Abigail, and the necks are slotted by Herbie using the same neck slotter used in the Fullerton factory when he started working there.
When asked how long they plan to keep doing what they're doing, neither Abigail nor Herbie can see an end in sight.
"People sometimes say, "How can you keep doing the same job for so many years?" says Gastelum. "Well, it might be the same job, but there's always something to learn. Every neck, every piece is a little different. Working with wood is challenging to me. When you don't enjoy your job, the time just drags. I've been here 35 years, but it seems just like yesterday. Maybe that's because I enjoy my job."
"As long as I'm healthy," adds Ybarra, "and I can get up in the morning and come to work, I'll be here. There's no stress here, and I like it when somebody like (CS Master Builder) Jay Black comes to me and needs something special, something different, and we work together to come up with the right pickup."