George Rizsanyi was typical of most teenagers at Port Perry High School in the mid 1970s. He wasn’t sure of his career goals. He loved music and played the guitar and fantasized about becoming a musician. He had no idea that someday he would be making guitars for some of the most famous musicians of our time and he certainly never thought that his work would be commemorated on a Canadian coin.
George was born in Hungary, but during the Revolution of 1956, when George was one year old, his parents decided to escape the communist regime and make their way to Canada. They eventually settled in Greenbank.
During his years at Port Perry High School, George developed an interest in music and like most teenagers, dreamed about being a musician. But George was also extremely practical. In the real world he knew that he needed a “backup career” and he found that at General Motors.
While working there he maintained his love of music and particularly his love of stringed instruments. He regularly attended concerts at the Oshawa Vital Spark Folk Club usually teaming up with another local musical enthusiast Mogens Galberg for the drive to Oshawa. Together they decided to organize the Greenbank Folk Music Society and present concerts at the Greenbank Centennial Community Hall.
“I managed to escape the ‘Motors’ by getting a job at Lado Guitars which at the time was located just outside Uxbridge,” George said. Here he learned the art and craft of guitar making. Turning an unused shed on his father’s property into a workshop, he began crafting his own instruments and took up the true art of a luthier (guitar maker).
Rather than importing rare and expensive woods from the Far East, George experimented with local woods to develop unique tones.
His first big breakthrough came in 1992 when he contacted legendary singer-songwriter James Taylor and offered to make him a guitar. Taylor was impressed with the quality of the workmanship and the sound it produced.
In 1998 George decided to expand his enterprise but at the same time to find a unique location for his workshop. The idea of Nova Scotia, with its musical traditions, its clean air and relaxed life style was irresistible. George and his wife Lisa found a 27 acre homestead of rolling wooded landscape on the banks of the LaHave River near Bridgewater, a perfect place to raise their three children and to perfect his craft as a luthier. George’s parents later moved to Nova Scotia to be near their son and grandchildren.
The woods on his property and neighbouring countryside provide an abundance of more traditional woods such as cherry, yellow poplar and birds-eye maple as well as more rare woods such as black ash, hawthorn, wild apple, tamarac and butternut. “Each wood has its own particular use and produces its own tone,” George claims.
This unique environment inspired his creation of traditional acoustic guitars as well as mandolins and modern electric guitars. He also conducted guitar building workshops.
Before long George was making contacts with several big name instrumentalists such as Levon Helms and Rick Danos, Bob Dylan’s backup musicians. Corkie Lang introduced him to Noel Redding a member of the Jimmy Hendrix Experience. Redding bought a Rizsanyi guitar.
Through Noel Redding and Charlie Karp, he was introduced to Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. Richards ordered two Rizsanyi guitars.
True to his craft as a luthier, in 2003 George made a pilgrimage to Cremona in Italy, the home of the world’s greatest violin maker Stradivari. “ It was a truly inspirational experience in the Stradivari Museum seeing millions of dollars worth of instruments of the master, and all his tools, A really amazing and inspirational experience,” George added.
“I would love to set up a guitar making school in Italy some day. It’s a dream,” he says, and, with a big smile he added, “Best wine I’ve ever tasted.”
In addition to James Taylor, Charlie Karp and Noel Redding, owners of Rizsanyi guitars include Peter Gabriel, Sting, Valdy and Bruce Cockburn. Even actor Donald Sutherland and politician Jack Layton own Rizsanyi guitars.
After meeting George, award winning CBC broadcaster Jowi Taylor set out on a project to use the guitar to symbolize national unity. Beginning in 1995 he set out to gather materials from across Canada to be used by George to create a special guitar. Taylor collected a total of 64 pieces of wood, metal and stone including pieces of Wayne Gretzky’s and Paul Henderson`s hockey sticks, Nancy Greene’s childhood ski, Pierre Trudeau`s paddle and decking from the “Bluenose.”
Most of the front piece was made from a 300 year old golden spruce, the revered tree of the Haida Gwaii of B.C. George built the guitar in six weeks, completing the project in April 2006.
“For me,” says George, “the most evocative piece of wood was an inside strut made from Pier 21 in Halifax where my parents and I entered Canada so many years ago.”
The guitar, named the “Six String Nation Guitar,” was used by many top entertainers at the 2006 Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa. CBC also produced a one hour documentary on the Six String Nation Guitar which first aired in July 2006.
The instrument has since travelled the nation to festivals, concerts, schools and community events.
To recognize this special guitar and George Rizsanyi`s work in it, the Royal Canadian Mint has just released an unusual triangular commemorative fifty cent coin. The centre of the coin has a hologram symbolizing George Rizsanyi’s Six String Nation Guitar. The coin, along with a descriptive cover, outlining George’s work can be ordered from banks or the Post Office.
An incredible honour for a local lad with a love for the guitar.
By Paul Arculus
Focus on Scugog
Personalities
