Local sculptor Pluta revisits an old passion

By Susan Gibbs, Record Reporter
Published: November 20, 2008

Stanardsville sculptor John Pluta’s life as a guitar maker was unknown until the 14th Annual Artisans Center of Virginia Artisans Studio Tour brought him out last weekend.
“Unassuming,“ is the word Artisans Center Director of Programs and Exhibitions Liz Moss uses to describe Pluta. Perhaps that is why no one knew that he was into - or, rather back into - guitars.
Now many will know.
Shortly before the tour last weekend, Pluta’s guitars made the cover of Charlottesville Arts & Entertainment magazine.
The Artisans Center’s annual tour allows the public at large to visit the studios of artisans living and working in the area. This year, 17 studios participated; Noon Whistle was the only stop in Greene. Moss, who visited six while the tour was in progress, says Pluta’s guitars were “the highlight of my journey through the mountains.“
Pluta has been known throughout the Mid-Atlantic States as a sculptor in clay since he and his wife, the potter Holly Horan, came here from Texas nine years ago. And, he’s been known as co-owner of Noon Whistle Pottery on Stanardsville’s Main Street since the couple opened that gallery seven years ago.
But what most doesn’t know is that as a young man living in Austin, Pluta worked for a guitar maker named Bill Collings.
Now, according to the company website, Collings Guitars has made instruments for an impressive number of celebrities: Keith Richards; Lyle Lovett; Pete Townshend; Emmylou Harris; Andy Summers; David Crosby; Chris Hillman; Joni Mitchell; Don Felder; John Sebastian; Lou Reed; John Fogerty; Tim O’Brien; Pete Huttlinger; Kenny Smith; Brian May; Joan Baez; John Prine; Niget Tufnel of Spinal Tap; and, Steven Spielberg.
Back in 1989, Collings was a stringed instrument builder and repairman whose reputation had by then earned him the ability to move out of the one-car garage where he had been working and employ three people - including Pluta and his brother Mark.
“I worked for him for six years, doing all phases of the guitar-making process … guitars I worked on were sold to high-profile professional performers,“ Pluta explains.
Guitar-making is labor-intensive work that requires an accurate grasp of the acoustical behavior of the instrument and a working knowledge of the most effective means of the craft, says Pluta. The process involves wood selection, cutting, sanding, sawing, bracing, finishing, and set-up (tuning and stringing).
A single hand-made guitar, Pluta explains, could take 200 hours to make, and is “hard on the hands and the eyes.“
Reached in Texas, Collings said, “John was always the best. He can do anything and make it look like it wasn’t work. If we look back in the history of our people, he’d be one we hated to let go…but he wanted to be a hippie artist.“
In 1995, Pluta and Horan hit the road, taking their sculpture and pottery with them.
“We did arts and crafts shows in the Southwest until 1999, when we decided to come here and work the Mid-Atlantic market,“ Pluta says.
Two years later, Pluta and Horan opened the Noon Whistle Gallery.
Now, Pluta has been making annual six-week trips to Austin, where he spends time with his brother Mark - now a professional carpenter - making guitars.
“A couple of years ago Mark talked me into getting back into it. He’s one of the best specialty tool, jig and fixture makers alive. He’s one of the best craftsmen I’ve ever worked with, I agreed,“ Pluta says.
As for future guitar building: for the moment, Mark remains in Texas, and John will continue making guitars here, at least to a degree.
“My plan is to make no more than two guitars a year; high quality instruments … as long as it’s still fun and doesn’t feel like a job,“ Pluta says.