Last Update: 3/31/07

About Schramm Guitars


About the Luthier:
David Schramm is the son of a college business professor and an artist. At an early age he began musical studies of the violin, piano, trumpet, trombone, and baritone horn. Growing up he built his own toys out of wood and had a fascination with wood carving.

Here are some photos of his early wood carvings when he was 10 years old.

From the mid 1970's to the early 1980's Mr. Schramm had a strong interest in making radio controlled gliders, World War II model aircraft, skateboarding, bicycle motocross, ice hockey, and hiking.

It wasn't until his second year of college that he picked up the guitar. He excelled quickly on the instrument and was encouraged to pursue serious studies. In the mid 1980's he moved to southern California to study classical guitar under Professor Ronald Purcell at California State University Northridge. It was there that he established relationships with some of the world's finest guitarist.

My first semester of college at CSUN. To my left is my roommate, Keith Calmes, who went on to get a masters at Juilliard and phd from USC.

In Mr. Schramm's final year of study he began to build guitars out of his dorm room on 9500 Zelzah Avenue. "I was very secretive about my activities so that I would not get kicked out!", says Mr. Schramm. Just look at this photo and you'll see why!

Below is a photo of Prof. Ron Purcell, the first "Schramm" guitar, and David Schramm.

"I received a lot of encouragement from artist who played those first guitars." Those artist include Ron Purcell, Ron Borczon, Greg Newton, Paul McGuffin, Ted Owens, Ruben Delgado, Scott Montgomery, Jordan Charnofsky, Keith Calmes, Trevin Pinto,Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Oscar Ghiglia, Scott Tennant, Bill Kanengiser, Nikita Koshkin, Rico Stover, David Russell, Anatoliy Olshanskiy, Vladimir Ustinov, and Michael Chapdelaine. It was Mr. Chapdelaine's comment that helped me to make the decision to go from hobby builder to professional. He said, "David, I think you found your niche!" From that day on I have been making my living building classical and flamenco guitars.

"I am basically self taught. In the early days I spent countless hours reading and studying everything I could find about instrument making. I've designed and built hundreds of guitars on my cerebral drawing board. That type of mental preplay is very important. I've been fortunate to have developed friendships with such notable luthiers as John and William Gilbert and Jose Oribe who have been very helpful and supportive of my work."

Mr. Schramm now lives in Clovis, California with his wife and two daughters. In 2016 Mr. Schramm retired from teaching guitar, music appreciation, and music theory at Fresno City College. He now teaches Classical, Country and Rock guitar out of his home and runs Clovis Guitar Lessons while still building guitars and performing.


Education

In December 2005 David Schramm completed his M.A in Music Performance with a 4.0 GPA at CSUF while working as an adjunct guitar instructor at Fresno City College and full-time luthier. In 2003 Mr.Schramm formed the San Joaquin Valley Guitar Society, Inc. and has served as its president since his first semester of graduate school. The SJVGS, Inc. was active in community outreach via master classes, scholarships, education, and concerts given by guest artists in the Fresno area.Now defunct. Schramm’s graduate work was honored by having his research paper, “The Definitive Elements of the Hermann Hauser Spanish Guitar,” reviewed by the Hauser family. Hermann Hauser III published the scholarly work on their prestigious web site. Schramm at the 2004 Fresno Guitar Panorama presented this research paper in lecture form. Schramm authored a self-published CD-rom entitled, “How to Make a Hauser Guitar,” that includes his Hauser research paper, and has sold over 500 copies worldwide. Schramm made it a priority to write, arrange, and perform ensemble music as he participated in the CSUF guitar ensemble each semester. In 2005 Dr. Ron Purcell of CSU Northridge, world-renowned guitar historian and pedagogue, selected Schramm to oversee the historic guitar display at the celebration of the International Guitar Research Archive, the world research center for classical guitar. Due to his outstanding efforts as a graduate student he was nominated by the music faculty for the department of Arts and Humanities Dean's Medal at CSUF.

Education

Private Instruction:

Master Classes

Scholarships:

Other experience:

Community Outreach:


Certificates and Memberships

Certificate of completion for "Guitarmaking" with John and William Gilbert (54K)

Membership in The Guild of American Luthiers since 1993 (72K)


Sound the luthier is seeking:
I have found that one of the most difficult things to do in this business is to discribe the sound of a guitar. In fact, I feel it is impossible to do so. Guitars sound and play differently from person to person. I try to avoid the "Salon" style advertising hype. So, with that in mind, I will outline some of my goals.

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