Meet the Maker: Graham McDonald

by John Calkin

Originally published in American Lutherie #97, 2009

Graham McDonald has made significant contributions to American Lutherie over the years and has attended several GAL conventions, quite a long trek for an Australian. He’s written two books, The Bouzouki Book and The Mandolin Project, and has presented convention workshops to support both of them. I had the good fortune to have my convention display table next to Graham’s one year. He’s a reserved individual with perhaps the driest sense of humor on the planet. As we are both quiet guys, we shared little conversation, so I welcomed this opportunity to get to know him better. As a longtime Aussophile I couldn’t help starting out with questions about his homeland.

In what part of Australia do you live?

We live in Canberra, the national capital. It is a city of around 300,000 in the mountains about 200 miles southwest of Sydney and built specifically as the national capital. Life is lots slower than in the big cities and the climate is just about perfect for lutherie. Unless it is actually raining, the humidity is around 40% every afternoon. We don’t get much more than a frost on winter mornings with most winter temperatures in the 50°s (Fahrenheit). An oil column heater in the workshop keeps it warm enough most of the time. Summer is hotter with maximums up around 100°F, but again with low humidity. It can get down to 20% humidity on a hot summer’s afternoon, but a workshop humidity meter and an online weather station means that it isn’t real hard to know when it’s gluing time.