Profiles in Loothing: Doc Rathwell

@theloothgroup Contributing member, Doc Rathwell looths out of his small shop in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, Canada.

Doc fondly remembers putting together what he describes as a “janky guitar build” in shop class in the early 90’s which set the trajectory for what would become a career in loothing.

Hi professional career in the looth began in the violin world under the guidance of such luminaries as Zoltan Ari, Istvan Jacso, Michael Remenyi Sr., Peter Mach and Luigi Lanaro.  Doc turned his attention toward the guitar world and studied guitar building under the watchful eye of the renowned Luis Feu de Mesquita.

During his career, now in its third decade, Doc went on to become of Chief Designer for US Music Corp (Washburn, Hamer, Parker, Oscar Schmidt etc) where he designed and built Nuno Bettencourt’s Plexi N4 and Michael Sweets signature yellow and black guitar among others.

In 2020 Doc happily co-founded Fretted Revival @frettedrevival where he puts his impressive skills to work focusing on instrument repair, restoration, general maintenance and setup work.

He is probably most well known among his peers as being the guy that got us Looths into the foam cutters as a new tool for steam-less neck removal on acoustic guitars.  If you haven’t tried it, you need to go back through the Looth Group’s video archive where Doc conducted a lunch-break workshop in which he pulled an acoustic neck, live on camera in less than 10 minutes!

Doc will be sharing some of his tips and trick as well as writing articles for the Looth Group on repair and restoration techniques.

When asked what his goals and aspirations in lutherie are – his answer?

“Sleeveless t-shirt model”

Doc is the quintessential Looth Group member.  He takes his craft very seriously. Himself and everything else? Not so much.

Make sure you check out Doc Rathwell.

FrettedRevival.com
@frettedrevival