Custom Shop - Page 3

So far in the Custom Shop series, we’ve asked luthiers about building custom bass guitars. This time we got the chance to talk to Ben Verellen to look into a perhaps lesser-known market: custom amplifiers. Based in Seattle, Washington, Ben Verellen of Verellen Amplifiers grew up playing bass and eventually decided to go to school for electrical engineering. Through a...

Pete Skjold had been playing bass for several years when he realized that to get what he wanted, he would have to design it himself. Eleven years after his first design, he began building full-time under the moniker Skjold Design Guitars, producing around 35 handmade basses annually. A bass enthusiast to the core, we first caught up with Skjold at...

This week, we’re wrapping up the series on the making of Orchid, an in-depth look at the build process for a custom bass for No Treble’s founder, Corey Brown, by luthier Rick Toone. If you missed the earlier part of the series, check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. Shaping Contours Sculpting the body is one of the...

Meet Jared Carpenter, the sole proprietor of California-based custom shop JC Basses. We first discovered his work after watching Seth Horan, whose custom bass features fanned frets and an eye-catching red finish. After picking up bass, Carpenter quickly realized he couldn’t get what he wanted from a production instrument and boldly decided to make his own, even without much woodworking...

Wyn Guitars is a one-man custom bass shop run by Randy Fullmer, a man with a healthy obsession for exotic woods. An artist at heart, Fullmer got his his start as a luthier at an early age before becoming an animator and producer for Disney. He eventually returned to building instruments, switching to exclusively making basses. Fullmer just finished moving...

Based out of the Houston, Texas area, Bud LeCompte has been building basses since 2004, after acquiring a technical background and inheriting a plethora of woodworking tools. Having been interested bass playing and drawing since his teenage years, LeCompte’s designs vary from paying homage to classic instruments to unique shapes and lines that defy that same tradition. In this installment...

Ansir Music is a custom shop based out of Ohio, consisting of the team of founder Jody Michael and artist Deric Smith. Jody, who has owned and operated a high precision tool and die shop, began to mix his bass-playing hobby with work, designing and creating basses. In turn, his business partner Deric, a self-taught artist with 20 years of...

This week, we continuing the series on the making of Orchid, a custom bass by Rick Toone. If you missed it, check out Part 1 and Part 2. Trapezoid Neck Profile Ebony facing is glued to the headstock. Next, the fretboard, headstock and contours are precisely shaped, including the patented Trapezoid Neck Profile used on these two basses. We’ve all...

This week, we continuing the series on the making of Orchid, a custom bass by Rick Toone. If you missed it, check out Part 1. Rick Toone tells the story on the making of this custom bass. Machining Bridges I devoted the past several years to designing, patenting and developing an integrated line of premium instrument hardware for guitar and...

A few months ago, a dear friend gave me an incredible gift. He hired Rick Toone, a luthier, to build a custom bass for me. Since the age of 15, I’ve been a Fender guy. I have a couple of 70’s Precisions, a more recent Jazz, and even a low-cost Fender acoustic bass guitar. So the idea of designing my...

When we posted photos from Summer NAMM in June, there was a huge uproar over pictures that included custom extended range basses by luthier Oscar Prat. We showed an 8-string and a 12-string bass, and the debate on what qualifies as a bass was on! Since then, we’ve caught up with Prat to find out how he got his start...

While checking out all the booths at Summer NAMM last month, we ran into custom bass builder, Pierre Erizias. Based out of Montreal, Pierre wowed us with not only his basses, but his cool story of how he got started building. We were able to catch up with him recently to dig a little deeper and find out about his...