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The
only question was where to learn. There was no one in Switzerland
except for a few classical luthiers, and that wasn’t interesting
in the age of rock’n’roll. There was also no literature
available except for Jahnel’s book, which was more a collection
of specific gravities.
My parents wanted me to have proper training, and the only job anywhere
close to what I wanted was piano building. So, I spent 4 years learning
how to build and tune pianos. Which wasn’t a bad thing. I
learned a lot. The best thing was that the music store also had
a guitar department, and there were always guitars needing repair
– of course I volunteered for those jobs!
After I finished my apprenticeship, having never lost my goal of
building guitars out of my sight (difficult with red and swollen
eyes :-), I started working at the only guitar repair shop around.
I started repairing and restoring for almost all the music stores
in Switzerland. From zithers to utes, classical guitars, harpsichords,
contrabasses, electric guitars, and thing that had strings. I got
a lot of work from the companies that imported Gibsons and Fenders.
And I did all that for a boss who preferred spending his time sitting
in the bar across the street, drinking a glass or three.
That was like being thrown into cold water, without first learning
how to swim. To complete the cliché: The shop was cold and
damp, in summer and in winter, and the painting room (aka junk room)
had walls covered in mould. And after my boss once again pulled
a fast one on me, «yeah, we’ll fly over to the USA,
buy up old guitars, make a lot of money, all your expenses paid»,
and I ended up in the States at 19, alone with no money, it became
clear to me that I had to open my own shop.
1979 was the birth year of Pagelli Guitars in Lichtensteig.
Since I was young and self-confident, I (illegally) wrote to all
my old clients, and was immediately flooded with work. Of course,
that required more employees, who all earned well. Except for me,
the guy who had to make sure that enough work came in. That was
the beginning and the end of Pagelli as boss.
The fact that I named the company «Pagelli Guitar builder»,
although I had never built one myself, was probably the best way
to put myself under pressure. So, I put all my experiences together,
and built my first guitar. Cut with a jigsaw, made out of Cristobal
wood bought from the local hair brush factory. But it already had
a 6-band equalizer and rear-mounted pickups!
Things got off to a good start, word got around that I did pretty
good work, and with the money from «investors» (i.e.,
a few friends who had some more money than I did), I went back to
the USA. In the early 80’s it was still possible to find good
instruments (especially jazz guitars) and sell them for a decent
profit in Switzerland. Not enough to get rich, but a great chance
to learn a lot about these old axes. I bought a lot of instruments
cheap that weren’t in the best of shape, and repaired them
in the shop. Bigger profit, more work – perfect!
At the same time I was playing guitar whenever I had a spare moment.
I auditioned for the best-known Swiss New Wave band, STITCH, and
they hired me. From then on, I ran a double life, work and play,
concert tours all over Europe. That was quite cool!
It was also very difficult for the business, though. Oh yeah, I
also worked at Sunrise Studios...at first as piano tuner, but it
soon became my second home. It was very popular among the Avantgarde,
everybody from Amon Düül to Fred Fith recorded there.
A very moving time.
My new girlfriend built a house far away from Lichtensteig in the
early 80’s, and that seems like the time for a new start for
me. I packed my thing and moved to Chur.
Of course, the relationship didn’t last for long, and it was
also a musical pause – until I met Claudia and got my new
band together. A CD production became a hot topic for the band,
and since the owner of the studio wanted to take his life in a new
direction, I ended up being owner and recording engineer in my own
new studio.
After a year came the big question: studio or guitar builder? Both
together weren’t possible, however much I wanted and tried.
So, we took off to Los Angeles, to chase the dream of all producers
and recording engineers. I made a demo, played all instruments myself,
recorded and mixed it, a musical business card. And got a job offer
in the first studio I visited – Paramount! What did I do?
I bought the biggest (also the cheapest) Cadillac, a yellow 1970
DeVille, and drove down to Mexico to empty my head, do some thinking,
and make some decisions. I decided to go back to guitar building
full time. Unique instruments, of the highest quality I was capable
of producing. I guess the American Way of Life just wasn’t
my thing.
Claudia, my wife and my partner for the last 20 years, brought style
and a whole new dimension to my guitars. She’s largely responsible
for the designs, from the guitars themselves to the web site. We
moved quite a few times, both apartment and atelier. Always looking
for places about to be turn down. That was cheap, but also a touchy
strategy. Then the surprise: Claudia was pregnant! We were up in
seventh heaven, only to learn in the seventh month that I have stomach
cancer. Into the hospital, stomach, pancreas, everything cleaned
up. On the day of my release (although still unable to walk) our
daughter Eliya Maria was born. That was wild! Almost as wild as
the marriage proposal I made Claudia in the hospital, with 10 tubes
in me and under morpheme. The best part – I don’t remember
a single thing.
I was unable to work for a whole year. Things were tough –
we couldn’t afford unemployment insurance, no financial reserves,
ending up on the dole – and then we slowly built our lives
up again with the help of friends. There were surprises, too: on
the day we realized that we couldn’t afford the atelier, we
received notice that we won a crafts award of 10,000 Swiss francs!
So, back to work, to trade shows, to trying to get noticed by the
press, to get commissions. For a long time we didn’t know
how we were going to get through the next month. But things constantly
got better. Work came in, not only from private persons, but from
companies. Cort, Burns, Schertler, Eastman...and then getting showcased
on the Gourmet Guitars DVD, an interview in the biggest Swiss TV
talk show, various publications, test reports, home stories, getting
noticed in the rest of the world, and back to being full up with
work.
With our latest move to Scharans – mountains, peace and quiet,
and inspirations – we’ve found the optimum place for
ourselves. And we hope that that’s reflected in our instruments.
30 years Pagelli Guitars – thanks for your support!
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The
Pagelli Interchangeable-Top Guitar was featured in Premier
Guitar's 
