Symphonies of Shape and Sound : FERRINGTON GUITARS; <i> Edited by Nicholas Calloway</i> , <i> (HarperCollins/Calloway</i> , <i> Editions: $50; 120 pp.) </i>

Since I’d rather not pay for “Sex,” even in book form, the fifty bucks that could have been Madonna’s financed my purchase of this remarkable evocation of an irreverent American craftsman’s masterpieces. The fact that said masterpieces are guitars used primarily by rock-and-rollers and country pickers may seem as unlikely as a reviewer paying for what he is writing about, but the description still fits. Photographed from all angles, in all their exotic shapes and colors, they radiate with the joy and energy that their maker, Danny Ferrington, brings to his calling. One look at them in “Ferrington Guitars” and you know that he is having a high old time, even if he no longer has to climb a rope to get to his second-floor workshop.

The son of a Louisiana woodworker and the former apprentice of Nashville’s foremost luthier, Ferrington found his way to Santa Monica 12 years ago and has been molding his products in his clients’ images ever since. “Somehow,” says Linda Ronstadt, who wrote the book’s introduction, “he is able to dream your guitar into shape, color and sound, so that it not only responds to you but is in a sense an extension of your personality.”

The personal touches range from the inlaid pearl cherubs and rabbits that decorate Ronstadt’s acoustic guitar to the underwater sound of a plywood electric guitar that Ferrington made in an hour for Ry Cooder. Then there was the electric that English rocker Chris Difford wanted in the shape of a violin, and the acoustic that Stephen Bishop wanted in the pink of a favorite pair of socks and the baby blue of a treasured shirt.

Even the coffee-table book that showcases them is shaped like a guitar that Nick Lowe ordered. But the real measure of Ferrington’s creations is that they are more than curios: They are used for writing songs, for recording sessions, for performing on the road. “A guitar is a living thing,” he says, “and without someone playing it, it’s no better than a chair.”

In light of that philosophy, it is only fitting that a CD is tucked into the dust jacket of “Ferrington Guitars.” On it are 20 artists--Cooder, Richard Thompson, J.J. Cale and Elvis Costello among them--showing how much life there is in spruce, maple, mahogany and rosewood after Ferrington has laid hands on it. These are the sounds that he is striving for when he works in his shop with nothing but some unremarkable tools, his imagination and his own two hands. He creates, a musician plays and, for the length of a song, the world is in some small measure a better place.