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Blanchette shows the back of his custom-made archguitar which is made of Brazilian rosewood. The top of the guitar is redwood, the fingerboard is ebony.

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GORDON DANIELS

Peter Blanchette came up with the idea for an archguitar, which has from nine to 11 strings to produce a fuller sound. It was crafted by luthier Walter Stanul.

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GORDON DANIELS

Peter Blanchette is shown playing a bass dombra, one of several guitars he owns. He is in the process of forming an orchestra featuring 48 guitarists.

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GORDON DANIELS

Peter Blanchette produces and records music in his home studio in Northampton.

Peter Blanchette loves to solve problems. Sometimes, they're even of his own making.

For example, since moving last year from Shelburne Falls to Northampton, Blanchette, 49, a professional guitarist, composer and music producer, has dreamed of creating a full-fledged guitar orchestra - ideally a 48-piece plucked-instrument ensemble that will feature everything from classical guitarists, like himself, to punk rockers. It's proven to be quite an undertaking.

His vision - the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra - has been in the works in earnest since late last year when he got a $1,000 grant from the Northampton Arts Council to get the venture off the ground. So far, that has meant creating posters and a Web site, on which he entices local professional and amateur guitarists of all stripes to get involved.

"In Northampton, there are people who play ... all these different kinds of music. They all have in common the passion they have for their music," Blanchette said this week in an interview in his home studio. "There's this enormous pool, a strong musical culture, not based in the same ... traditions."

But, Blanchette says, getting such disparate musicians to play together could be a major headache.

"How the hell do you write music for three blues guitarists who can't read a note but really can play wonderful blues gestures, two jazz guitarists, four classical guitarists, one 15-year-old kid who can't read a thing but can play really good punk rock, and five singer-songwriters who would never, ever play a melody on their guitar but they finger pick?," Blanchette wondered. "Then throw in, for the fun of it, a slap funk bass player. How do you write for that?"

But, that's all really more idle kvetching than whole-hearted complaining. The fact is, Blanchette admits, he relishes the challenge.

"That's exactly what I want to do, figure out how you write for that," he said.

Listen to Peter Blanchette perform Gavottes I & II from the 6th Suite for Cello Solo by Johann Sebastian Bach while discussing the quality of his archguitar

It seems Blanchette is a born troubleshooter. For instance, in 1980, when he wasn't able to produce the desired guitar sound for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach - about which he is an admitted fanatic - and other classical pieces, he cooked up an entirely new instrument, the archguitar, and asked a colleague, luthier Walter Stanul, to craft one. The instrument has from nine to 11 strings which gives it much larger musical range than a six-string guitar, and sounds similar to a lute.

Blanchette has said that he knows about 15 people who have taken up the archguitar- all made by Stanul - since hearing his work.

Satisfied with the results, Blanchette has used it since to perform and record. But because no one else was playing the archguitar back then, he was unable to record ensemble music. Until, of course, he created what he calls a "virtual consort," recording all the parts himself and blending them together in his studio. While that's nothing new in rock and pop music, he notes, it is not common practice among classical musicians.

"It's exactly what the Beatles did and Prince does. Everybody in pop music does it, but in classical music it's pretty different, it's pretty radical," he said.

In fact, it was those solo, yet ensemble-sounding recordings that eventually sparked the notion of creating the guitar orchestra.

"I just love the sound of a mixed-plucked ensemble," Blanchette said. And, he adds, the Pioneer Valley seems the perfect place to start such a venture.

"In the Northampton area, you have so many people who play, and play very passionately," he said. "There are people who play Gypsy jazz, people who play punk rock, classical jazz. Then you have the student element - young people who are pretty enthusiastic amateurs. And talented."

Blanchette says he envisions a community group that welcomes guitarists from all those different genres.

"Hey, punk guy, we want you here, we need you here. We need that sound. Hey, jazz player, you can play your complex harmonic jazz, but you're going to be asked to do something different. We'll use it but you're going to grow too. Would you like to do that? You'll become a better musician. This I know for sure," he said. "I have a lot of faith that people will like music that they have yet to hear."

In preparation, Blanchette has composed some études, or studies, that "are hopefully musically interesting and will work on the problems that I know will need to be worked on so we can develop a technique as an orchestra," he said.

In the past few months, Blanchette has been creating a roster of interested guitarists through his Web site; he has 16 so far. Some can read music, others read tablature (a system for plucked instruments that uses graphs of finger boards instead of musical notes). But others, like many rock 'n roll musicians, don't work from any kind of score at all.

"They pick up a guitar and they ... show each other how to play. I have no problem doing that, it's a different experience."

But, if, as he puts, it he wants to get all the musicians "playing in the same sandbox," it will, of course, require a plan.

For starters, he says, "I can't write in the old way. I'm not going to write out what I'm going to ask a blues guitarist. I'll show them and say, 'Do what you need to do to play that when we need you to play that.' "

In fact, none of the musicians will be given a score, although some may use different forms of music notation. Instead, he'll send the music via the computer.

"I'll make a demo of the pieces myself, the way I make my recordings. I'll give them their part in an email, an MP3, and say, 'Here's your part.' " It's a modern - and logical - solution, he says.

"I really don't want to turn away anybody if they want to play," he said. "I don't want to say no to anybody, so you weigh how much of a problem this is versus how much of an exciting thing it is."

Blanchette says he wants to hear from more area guitarists - professional and amateur - who are interested in joining. A description of the group can be found at www.happyvalleyguitarorchestra.org. He hopes to get enough musicians - 48 is his goal - to put together at least one, and maybe as many as five, free concerts within the next few months.

"Forty-eight is enough instruments to create a really, really enormous sound, but few enough that it seems manageable," said Blanchette, adding that could work with half that number. "That would be the guitar chamber orchestra," he said.

In addition, he'd like suggestions of a place where the group can rehearse.

Although he's been looking into more funding sources, including grants, he doesn't expect it to be an expensive venture, especially if he can find a donated rehearsal space. Initially, at least, the musicians will be asked to volunteer their time, as he does.

"This is like the old fashioned idea of the civic orchestra ... It's going to need to be community funded," he said. "Nobody's gets rich, but maybe they can pay the baby sitter. If it got to there that would be fantastic," he said.

Besides, he added, "In bad economic times, it's a really, really good way to spend your time - making music, rather than worrying about money.

Kathleen Mellen can be reached at kmellen@gazettenet.com.