Batik Guitars Going Global

Name: Batik Guitars Going Global
Uploaded: 2021-05-03T03:19:56Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: He decided to quit his job and focus on guitar making in 2009. At first, he produced guitars of passable quality by using laminated wood.

He decided to quit his job and focus on guitar making in 2009. At first, he produced guitars of passable quality by using laminated wood.

Haris Firdaus

· 5 minutes read

When he began his online business, 35-year-old Guruh Sabdo Nugroho just sold regular guitars. Later, he ventured into producing guitars decorated with batik motifs. Those products have since attracted guitar lovers in various countries.

Guruh has no background or training in musical handicraft. He studied computer science at college. After graduation, he worked with an internet service provider. His interest in guitars was only piqued in 2007, when he helped sell guitars made by his brother in Sukoharjo regency, Central Java.

“So, a family member was producing guitars. He asked me to help sell them via the internet. At the time, the guitars were selling well,” he said when visited at the Batiksoul Guitars gallery in Ngenden hamlet, Banaran village, Grogol district, Sukoharjo, on Tuesday (27/4/2021).

With that experience, Guruh was interested in going deeper into guitar production. He decided to quit his job and focus on guitar making in 2009. At first, he produced guitars of passable quality by using laminated wood.

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For acoustic musical instruments, two types of wood are used as basic materials, which are plywood and solid wood. Solid wood comes from tree stems cut into square blocks and sliced thin. Plywood comprises thin layers fixed together with glue. Guitars and other instruments made from solid wood have better sound quality than those from plywood.

In 2011, Guruh started making premium-quality guitars by using solid wood. Several wood species were used, including mango, mahogany, sonokeling (rosewood) and trembesi (raintree wood). He learned from a number of guitar producers in Indonesia. “From 2011 to 2013, I also learned from guitar makers in Malaysia and Singapore,” he said.

He decided to decorate his guitars with batik motifs and brand them as Batiksoul Guitars.

Guruh strived to make his guitars different from those produced by other craftspeople. He decided to decorate his guitars with batik motifs and brand them as Batiksoul Guitars.

The batik motifs on Guruh’s products are created with the traditional process of hand-drawn batik. Guruh uses special wax that functions to block colors in certain parts.

“I want the batik motifs on my guitars to be processed in the traditional way of batik making. Many guitars with painted batik motifs or with batik patterns glued to them can be found, but guitars with traditionally processed batik motifs have never existed before,” Guruh asserted.

Special formula

When he made hand-drawn batik motifs on guitars for the first time, Guruh faced quite a big challenge. This batik-making process turned out to be prone to lowering the quality of the instruments. Guruh had to find a way of traditional batik making without reducing the quality of the guitar.

It took Guruh around two years to devise a batik-making method that does not lessen the quality of the guitar. In two years, he managed to invent a liquid formula for the process of nglorod or wax removal from the guitar wood already adorned with batik motifs.

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With hand-drawn batik, nglorod is normally done by immersing batik cloth in boiled water. However, this method is impossible to apply to guitar-making, because it could damage the wood.

“For nglorod, we use our own chemical concoction. No boiled water is used anymore. With boiled water, the moisture of guitar wood changes. We also tried to use alcohol once, but the colors faded,” said the father of two.

With his special formula, the batik-making process won’t change the moisture of guitars, nor will it spoil their sound resonance. Besides, the special formula is also needed to make acoustic guitars stand four seasons.

The batik is applied directly to the guitar bodies, without prior sketching.

To put batik-motifs on guitar bodies, Guruh cooperates with a skilled batik artisan. The batik is applied directly to the guitar bodies, without prior sketching. If any pencil sketching were done in advance, pencil traces would be left on the guitar body after removal of the wax.

In the initial period, Batiksoul Guitars were aimed primarily at domestic buyers. But since 2015, Guruh has been seriously promoting his guitars abroad by joining exhibitions in several countries. He is also actively promoting his products via websites and social media.

To date, Batiksoul Guitars have been sold to buyers in different countries, such as the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Russia and Sweden. Guruh’s guitars can fetch thousands of US dollars per piece.

“My guitar buyers aren’t just guitar players but also collectors. Many people who can’t play the guitar have also bought the expensive products,” said Guruh, who employs two workers to assist him in the manufacture of the instruments.

While being bought by guitar lovers in various countries, Guru’s works have also been collected by the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow, Russia. A number of famous Indonesian musicians like Adera, Badai ex-keyboarder of Kerispatih, David Naif, Endah Laras, Ras Muhammad, Tohpati and Tantowi Yahya also use Guruh’s guitars.