Saurabh Datar (MID-DAY; March 30, 2014)

In an unassuming workshop at Charkop, Kandivli, Sunil Shinde is surrounded by guitars — broken, bent, modified, or some new ones. He is India’s foremost guitar luthier (a term used to describe someone who makes a lute or other string instruments), and the biggest names in the music industry seek him out.
“My skill is god’s gift — I never attended classes to learn how to repair guitars,” says the 40-year-old.

It all began in 1989, when he joined Alberto Music, a Malad store. After picking up some chops from its owner Salvadore Dias, he started repairing and fixing guitars full- time. Working at Alberto also exposed him to several books on guitars. “I would repair a guitar and compare what I had done to the manuals; it matched.” Soon, Shinde began servicing legendary Bollywood musicians such as Kalyanji-Anandji, Pyarelal and guitarists Dilip Naik and Ramesh Iyer.

Going solo In i996, Shinde established his own workshop and his clients moved with him as well. Today, he serves Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa, bass guitarist Karl Peters, guitarist Kalyan Baruah, indie stars Papon and Rabbi Shergill, Sandeep Chowta and Clinton Cerejo. The list goes on to about 3,000 clients.

Ehsaan Noorani swears by Shinde. “I wouldn’t trust my guitars with anyone else. I send them to Sunil every month for maintenance.” During the 2006 deluge, Noorani’s guitar was damaged when Empire Studios was flooded. “ I thought it was gone. But he fixed it!” says Noorani. “I have a Parker Fly guitar, made of mahogany graphite. Once, to detect a problem, Sunil put the guitar in an X- ray machine,” he exclaims.

The Doc is also inventor Shinde also customises guitars according to client requirements. One such request came from singer-director Avdhoot Gupte. “Once, he wanted an intrument which combined western and Indian sounds. The protagonist in the film, Ek Tara, is a musician who undergoes a transformation,” explains Shinde. After about a year of research, creating designs, and working on prototypes, Shinde invented the ‘gitara’, a combination of the ektara and the guitar. “It has six strings and same number of frets as a guitar, but emits a more Indian sound. But, it can also be used in western tonality,” he explains.

The gitara will be patented. Ek Tara, will release in April. Shinde also invented another instrument, combination of a mandola and a mandolin, on the request of veteran Bollywood mandolin player Chandrakant Lakshpati.

Shinde says he never feels like composing music, though he is in touch with composers. ‘Ehsaan sir’, as Shinde calls him, got him imported tools and books.

The Guitar Doc now plans to set up a factory to produce guitars under his own name. He hopes his two boys will also learn the skill. “They’re young now. But, that’s all for the future. For now, I’m happy.”