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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, November 20, 2009 · 34 Builder sharing his craft Continued from page 33 Ilton works as a contract IT project manager and consultant during the day. He said he would like to build guitars full-time, but knows it isn't feasible. He said working as a luthier offers him an escape from the everyday. "This (being a luthier) keeps me sane," he said. "In IT, you get into this world of extreme importance that is self-contained. Making instruments, to me, is a release of something I have inside of me." Ilton said building guitars is his passion in life, sec- European Engineering Combined With Traditional Workmanship "Building on the Brightest Ideas Around Glass" ond only to being a dad to Jessica, 18, Jennifer, 15, and Jacob. The Oakville luthier is already passing his craft on to others. Every Monday, he has boys' night. Instead of playing poker, he and his friends go out to the workshop and build guitars. He is also teaching his brother to build the instrument. Ilton said it is important to continue the tradition by passing it on to others. "Stradivarius, the famous violin maker, wrote detailed notes, but he never showed anyone how to make a violin, so his knowledge of violinmaking died with him," he said. "That hasn't happened with guitar makers. If you are good at something, you should show others how they can do it so the lineage doesn't end." When he isn't working on guitars, Ilton is building an airplane. He's working on a full-size, twoseat RV-8. He is envisioning, unsurprisingly, a guitar-themed paint job. For information on Doug Ilton guitars, go to www.dcguitars.ca. 905.849.0266