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Welcome to Working Towards Our Purpose, a podcast that

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offers a different perspective on what a job can be. For everyone

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out there that's heard that voice in the back of their head asking for

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something more, it's time to listen to it. I'm your host,

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Gino, and join me as I interview people who have decided to

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work in their own purpose. Together, we will learn, become

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inspired, and hopefully find our own path towards working in our

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purpose. Corey

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Reynolds is the founder and owner of CRC Guitars. He's a

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woodworker by day and a custom guitar builder by night. And as a fellow

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guitar player, I'm really looking forward to getting to talk guitars. Corey, welcome to Working

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Towards Your Purpose. Purpose you doing today? Good. How are you? Thanks for having.

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Doing well. Doing well. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting to

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talk guitars a little bit later on. But first, if you could just kinda, like,

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tell us who you are, you know, where you grew up, and what kind of

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schooling you had, and that sort of thing, interest as a kid maybe. Oh, yeah.

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Well, from the beginning, I was actually homeschooled. I

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have, like, 0 formal education. And, but, you

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know, building things has always been a passion of mine. Didn't matter what

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it was. Legos, you know, just started there. But, yeah, grew

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up in Connecticut, Northeastern Connecticut. Been playing music

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in for, I don't know, 20 something years, building

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things. That's kinda it. I mean,

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you know? Nice. What was homeschooling like? I I don't know that

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I know anybody that's been, like, homeschooled before. I feel like it could go both

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ways. It could be either, like, cool because you can have flexibility around

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your schedule or it could be, like, awful.

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It was interesting. It was a little weird, I guess. I don't know. I mean,

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I did whatever I wanted pretty much all the time. So, you know, I was

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out in the woods building forts or, you know, building dirt bike jumps

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and things like that, bicycle jumps. But, yeah, did my school work

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in the morning and got it out of the way and then just did whatever

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I wanted for the rest of the day. So it was kinda nice. I mean,

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it's a little, I have 3 other siblings, so wasn't exactly

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lonely. Mhmm. You know? But it was it was different.

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But, I don't know. It's it's quiet and sheltered, I I suppose.

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But, yeah, flexibility. We we were always going places and doing things. You know?

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So it was it was interesting, but I don't have much to compare it

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to. Yeah. Sure. That's that's definitely a good point.

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So, like, once you finished your schooling, did you, like, finish on time with,

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like, a normal person who would graduate high school? I finished a little

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early, actually, and then just started working full time,

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like, from the age of 16, more or less. A family friend at

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a construction company that gave me a job because, you know, I had to build

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something. Mhmm. So I started working for them, learned as much as I

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could. You know, we just we built houses, did everything from

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the ground up, everything in between, you know, electrical, plumbing. It was pretty great. So

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I learned all kinds of things. So but, you know, that's just what I like

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to do. I like to learn things, build things, create, and it was, you know,

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it was a a great starting point to do

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anything, really. That's awesome. That makes me ask a

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question. When you are being homeschooled, do you get to choose kinda like

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what you're interested in? Because I mean, certainly, the downside of, like,

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traditional schooling is, like, you have to do this, and you have to do this

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for a set amount of time, and then we don't care about what you're interested

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in. Kind of. I mean, at at the time, because this

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is, you know, more than 20 something years ago. You know, it's

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a long time ago at this point. It wasn't super structured

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because the the state actually wasn't involved so much.

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Like, now it's a little different. It's changed. You're gonna go through programs and whatever.

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So my mother was in charge of the curriculum, whatever she felt like

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teaching, so which was kinda nice. You know, it's like, oh, you don't need to

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learn that, but this is important. So we focused on more important things, I

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suppose. But it was it was less structured and more, you know

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Yeah. This is what you really need to know. Got that out of the way

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and then, you know, did whatever I wanted after that. Yeah.

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No. That's that's so cool. It's, very interesting. I'm sure it completely

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changes, like, your perception on what you find important and giving you

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probably more voice of, like, doing the things that you care about versus just,

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like, what you're supposed to be doing. Right. Yep. So when you first got

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into, like, working, you said you work you started work pretty early. Did you ever

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think about, like, going to further schooling? Or Not

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really. I mean, that was kind of one of those

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things, like, oh, I was homeschooled. I got the education I needed. I already knew

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what I wanted to do at that point, so I didn't want to go into

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college getting any further education. It didn't feel necessary at the

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time, you know, because I was like, I already want to build things. I wanna

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build houses. That's what I wanted to get into, but I don't do that anymore.

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But I already had an idea of where I want to go. I was like,

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I don't don't need that. It was kind of a different, perspective,

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I suppose. And I in a way, I almost regret it, but not not really.

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I'm doing pretty well. I'm where I wanna be as far as where

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I'm at currently, almost. Yeah. Yeah.

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Cool. So you started to build, like, houses and stuff for,

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a family friend's company. How long did you do that for?

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That was let's see. It wasn't too long. It was maybe, like,

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5 years that I worked for them, then I ended up getting married and moving

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away, working for another relative in a construction

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company for about a year. But then I ended up getting completely

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out of construction altogether at that point. That was around

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2008 when, like, the the the recession

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started. Like, there was no construction work to be had anyway. So I ended up

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getting a job that I ended up hating. That's actually kinda how it got me

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into guitars. Oh, interesting. Very roundabout way.

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Mhmm. Do do explain more. So so, yeah, I

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started working for a cleaning company specialized in the

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kitchen exhaust system cleaning, which is dirty

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and disgusting. And just it was it was a job, and

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it I I was there for 8 years. So, I mean,

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we paid the bills, but it was just, you know, it was the same thing

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every day. It was very repetitive. It wasn't scratching

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my creative itch, you know, just like, oh, it's dirty again. Go clean it

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again. Whatever. But they they did other things like floors and all kinds of, like,

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janitorial style cleaning. But at some point, I was just like, this is

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I hate this, you know? It's very unfulfilling.

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And, at that point, I had moved away from where I grew up.

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So I was, at the time, playing in a band with my brother and friend.

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I'd moved away from that, so I wasn't playing any. So and I wasn't doing

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anything creative, and I kinda realized that all at the same time.

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So I was like, I need to do something creative,

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but I also wanna play music. And then it just kinda clicked one day. I

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should build guitars. It was it was

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kind of strange. Like, I wanted an electric guitar. I couldn't afford 1. It's like,

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I should just build 1, and that's not cheaper than just buying

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1 car. Found that out very fast.

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But but I I kinda just wanted to do it anyways, So I started

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building 1 just to, you know, do something creative

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and then be able to play it later. That one's still unplayable.

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But, like, that's kinda how it started. Like, it wasn't playing music. I

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wasn't doing anything and just kinda came

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together. And it just it made sense, so I just started building

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1. Do you remember and and maybe not. But

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do you remember, like, a a thing that, like, triggered that thought to be like,

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wait a minute. What am I doing here? I'm not doing any of these things

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that I enjoy doing. It was just that I wanted to

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be play. I don't really I mean, this is over 10 years ago that that

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happened, but I just didn't I wanted to do something. I knew I wanted to

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be building something. I wanted to get back in construction or something like that, but

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that this wasn't gonna happen at the time. But I also wanted

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to be playing in a band or just playing music in general. It just at

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the I was just kinda I don't wanna say depressed, but just, you know, just

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hated what I was doing for work and just trying to scratch the itch of,

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you know, creating something. And it just it

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all just kinda clicked one day, like, just build one. It

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was never my intention to, like, start a business and, you know, build

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them all the time. But I enjoyed the process of it so much.

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I had to learn everything about it. I just, like, dove head first into it.

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That's unfortunately how I am with everything. It's like, oh, I I'm gonna learn this?

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Well, I'm gonna learn all of it. Mhmm. But that's that's probably my

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ADHD a little bit. Yeah. No. And well, someone said that that's a a

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good skill to be, like, focused enough in on it to do it. I think

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that's a, that's a positive skill for sure. Yeah. I tend to hyper focus

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on this thing and just go for it and I had to learn it

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all. Yeah. And I'm certainly familiar with the feeling of like,

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you know, doing something for a long period of time and, like, finally

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realizing that like, oh, this is not what I wanna be doing at all. So

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I Right. You said, like, almost depression. For me, it was almost

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some of that, but, like, also, like, just an asleep sort of thing, like, so

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much time goes by, and you're like, what am I doing? I don't even remember

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what I had changed the last, like, 5 years. It's like so yeah. That's

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exactly it's like it's like 8 years doing same thing constantly.

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It's it was so monotonous. You're just in a groove just

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going. It's like yeah. It's just like going to an office. It's the same thing,

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except for I was just at different restaurants every other day. Yeah. You

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know? So it was just it was annoying. I know where to eat, though, and

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I know where not to eat. For sure. More importantly, where not to

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eat. When you see behind the scenes everywhere, it's a little scary.

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Mhmm. For sure. So yeah. So talk to me about

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music too. Like, when did you first get into music and, like, what part is

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music played in your life? Yeah. I mean, music music is, like, is

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a huge part of my life. It's probably one of the most important

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things to me. I think I started playing, I don't remember

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exactly, I was like 12 or 13. My younger brother and I both

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started taking lessons at the same time. I actually started on bass. That's

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mostly what I play. I'm not very good at anything,

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but, we we started playing together. He's a little bit

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younger than me. He's, like, 2 years younger than me, but we were taking lessons

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simultaneously. He was playing guitar. I was playing bass. It just made

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sense that one of us picked one of those instruments. You know? Mhmm.

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And because we were learning at the same time, we were learning at the same

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pace and learning the same songs, stuff like that, and it just, you know, progressed

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like that. We played very well together because of that, I think. So

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we're fairly young listening to stuff like Led Zeppelin and learning all of

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those songs and whatever. And few years later, he's still one

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of my best friends. He's a drummer, and we just started playing together doing

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that. This is, you know, 2,004

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ish, so right in the middle of the emo screamo.

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Mhmm. Boom. So that's kind of the stuff we were playing at the time too.

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So but, yeah, like, we we started playing very young.

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Music was a huge deal. I was just actually talking about this the

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other day, about Led Zeppelin. My brother, we had taken stolen

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all our dad's old tapes, and he had a copy of physical graffiti.

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And for an entire summer, he just played that every night before bed. We had

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shared a room too. So it's like, that album has burned into my brain at

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this point. It's like, you know, it started there

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and just, you know, progressed. And we're always playing stuff, you

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know, within the the rock or punk or or, you know, metal

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type vein, I guess. Yeah. No. I'm I'm kinda

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similar in that way where me and my brother I have a twin brother, and

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me and him both kinda, like, picked up guitar at the same time. And, like,

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I know what you mean by, like, we didn't really, like, took lessons together, but,

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eventually, we started playing together once we were, like, I guess, competent enough to

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be able to do that. Yeah. But then we, like I feel like

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it's easier for us to just, like, kinda play with each other. Eventually, he picked

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up drums and, like, we would go back and forth with them. So, yeah, it's

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a music's kind of a cool thing. For me, it was super important, like,

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you know, in middle school and that sort of stuff. I really got into, like,

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metal and it being, like, super expressive and that sort of thing. So, yeah,

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music's always been super cool and important to me as well.

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So what what got you, like, eventually into woodworking?

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And, like, was it guitar that got you to, like, do more, like,

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fun? It was actually yeah. Building guitars is what got me the job

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I currently have because I I still have zero formal training in

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woodworking because, you know, I was doing carpentry before, and those those

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are not the same thing. Woodworking and carpentry are completely

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different. But, you know, I started building guitars, but it's like I had to learn

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so many other woodworking things. Like, I figured, oh, I know how to do that.

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I can use saws and things, but it's so wildly different, you

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know, building a house versus furniture or whatever.

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But, I was started making these guitars, and, my wife's

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uncle, who I had actually worked for for that that one year, like, in

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2007, 2008, He had gotten a job in a woodshop

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not too far from here. He was telling me about it. I'm still working for

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that cleaning company. Like, if they ever have any openings, let me know. And he's

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like, I mean, they'll see what I can do. Like, a few months after

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that, he he was like, yeah. 1 of these one of these guys is, like,

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leaving. He's moving across country or whatever, so we're gonna have an opening. So I

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immediately called the guy that owned the business and said, like, yeah, you can

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come in for an interview. And I went in the interview. He's like, well, you

220
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know, you don't have the skill set we're looking for or whatever. But, you know,

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thanks for coming in, basically. Okay. Whatever. Like, I had shown them

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pictures of the stuff I had built. I was like, it looks nice, but, you

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know, we're looking for somebody who has, you know, formal training in this. Okay.

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Whatever. Fine. I understood that. And then, like, a month later, they were,

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like, desperate for somebody. He's like, he just was gonna hire me just to be

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there, basically. And, I just I learned everything

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I possibly could. That's what I did. You know? I was like, if I'm gonna

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do this, I'm gonna learn everything I can about woodwork. You know? And

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I I'm kinda running the shop now. Nice. Don't wanna

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brag. I'm I'm not, but you know.

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What kind of stuff, are they making? They make,

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garden structures. So anything outside, like, mostly trellises.

233
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We do, a lot of custom pergolas, like bigger, you know,

234
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fences, gates, arbors. Anything that would go in a garden outside, that's

235
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what we do. We do a lot of commercial projects. So,

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like, really big ones that are going to apartment complexes in Boston. We've

237
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done a lot in, Manhattan, like rooftop stuff,

238
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lots of crazy stuff like that. But it's it's relatively high end

239
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for what it is. So but that's what we do. Nice. Is it a

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smaller type of company, or is it a bigger Yeah. Currently, there's, like, 5

241
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employees on the shop floor, so fairly small yet.

242
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But, I mean, it's a little slow at the moment, but, you know, it usually

243
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is during the winter. Most people aren't thinking about their gardens or anything

244
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like that or yards this time of year. Sure. Sure.

245
00:14:59,370 --> 00:15:03,130
So tell me about, like, what the first guitar was that you ever built because

246
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you said, like, you've quickly found out that it's not the same skills, and I

247
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imagine a lot of it has to do with precision. There's a lot of

248
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precision. The first one I built was made out of plywood. It's still hanging in

249
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my shop right now in a place where it's like, if I'm ever feeling, like,

250
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not that good at this, it's like it's right there. Like, that's how far I've

251
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come. It's right there. Nice. But I bit off more than I could chew

252
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with that one. So but, like, I wasn't exactly precise. I didn't have the

253
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tools to do it. I just kinda, like, hacked it away with whatever I had

254
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and just kept borrowing things from other people. But,

255
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yeah, it's, I I tried to paint it, like,

256
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professionally in my basement, which didn't work out so well either. But,

257
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yeah. It's I I bought most of the things. Like, I bought it next because

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I figured, oh, that's that's difficult. There's no way I'm gonna figure that out. You

259
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know? You have you have to be extremely precise with all the measurements on, you

260
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know, your fretboard or whatever for to put the frets on. And I was like,

261
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there's no way I'm gonna do that first off. And that was fine, but just

262
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like, nothing lined up right. I was just straightening out. I'm not selling

263
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myself very good right now, but No. It's a it's a learning

264
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process. I think that's that's the cool part about it is that, like, you start

265
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from somewhere, but then the fact that you don't give up and then you learn

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how to figure it out like that, that to me is inspiring. Like, I'm I'm

267
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inspired listening. Once I got it together and I realized, oh, this is never

268
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gonna happen, I immediately started on another one. Like, I knew where I screwed

269
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up on most of it, so immediately started on the next one.

270
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As far as I know, that one's still playable. I wanted to build 1, but

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I was like, I don't have the money to just go buying parts all the

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time. So a friend of mine, he's like, I will give you the

273
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money. Well, the deal was like, I will build you whatever you want. Just,

274
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like, pay for the parts, and you don't have to pay for any of the

275
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labor. I'll just build it. And so it did. And as far as I know,

276
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it's still playable. He hasn't called me to be like, hey, man. This thing fell

277
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apart. So but, like, that was the second one

278
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I did. And, like, halfway through the second one, I was I decided to

279
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start another one, like, during that project because I was enjoying

280
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the process so much. It's like, I guess I gotta keep going because I still

281
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hadn't built one for myself yet. I'm building a second one, but now that's

282
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for somebody else. But I the whole point of that was to build myself one.

283
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So so I started on the other one. And then I was working on those,

284
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like, simultaneously. And, that one's

285
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still in my basement and not playable. But, again, I bought another

286
00:17:25,304 --> 00:17:29,080
neck, you know, online. That was that was the my mistake. And

287
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at that point, I realized, like, you know what? I can't keep buying these necks.

288
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And it's either you spend way too much money, you know, going to, like,

289
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Ormuth or whatever buying theirs or just build it myself.

290
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And at that point, no, I I still hadn't gotten that woodworking job

291
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yet. This is, you know, 10 years ago at this point, so the timeline's

292
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a little sketchy, a little fuzzy.

293
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But, yeah, I decided at that point how hard could it be, you

294
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know? I could just build I could do it. It's not it can't be that

295
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bad. And at this point, I'm, you know, compiling more and more

296
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specific tools to do it properly and just

297
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constantly researching how to do all of the stuff. And I have to

298
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try to remember which one is the next one in that series

299
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because it I again, I keep biting off more than I can chew every

300
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single time because I'm just like, well, I should do this and do that. Let's

301
00:18:20,330 --> 00:18:24,030
keep adding features that just I should've kept it simple, but I never did.

302
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And that actually helped me learn more because I just needed to

303
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dive in and just go for it. So it might have been

304
00:18:32,395 --> 00:18:36,095
I it might have been the 27 strings that I've built, which are both still,

305
00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,140
they came out really well. They're both still very playable. People have them. So

306
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:42,860
I still haven't built one for myself to keep you active.

307
00:18:44,585 --> 00:18:48,425
Wow. That's interesting. Yeah. So, basically,

308
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you've kinda just built them. And then as you're building them, other people are like,

309
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hey. Can you make me one? Hey, can you make me one? And this is

310
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a good iterative process. It just keeps happening. Yeah. Interesting. It

311
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just kept happening. They're like, oh, I love that. Can I have it? Like, yeah.

312
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Sure. Whatever. Keeps telling to purpose,

313
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which which works out right now. Yeah. Yeah. I I do

314
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wanna ask you too about, like, the, I guess, attitude or mentality

315
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of, like, kinda, like, believing in yourself more than, like, the things that

316
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you're seeing. Because, like, for example, the necks you buying a neck and it, like,

317
00:19:19,935 --> 00:19:22,815
is garbage or doesn't work or something. You're like, I'll just build it myself. I

318
00:19:22,895 --> 00:19:25,695
I'll probably figure out how to do it better than that. Like, do you know

319
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where that kinda mentality comes from? Because I get I mean, there's certainly people who,

320
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like, have the opposite mentality of, like, oh, I could never do that. That's way

321
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too difficult. I can't do that. That's just kind

322
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of how I've always been. Like, I would just like, I can do that. I

323
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can do it. Why why why not try it? The worst thing that can

324
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happen is you're gonna either fail and then try again or,

325
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you know, maybe it'll work out. But I don't know. It's just I've always kinda

326
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just thought, you know, I can do it. If other people can do it, I

327
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could probably figure this out. You know, it can't be that hard.

328
00:19:57,095 --> 00:20:00,775
It's more about having the right tools and

329
00:20:00,775 --> 00:20:04,460
things. And that may those tools may be inside you, not

330
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physical, like, saws or whatever. You know what I mean? Just

331
00:20:07,980 --> 00:20:11,440
Mhmm. Other people do this all the time, so it can't be that hard.

332
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Everything's possible as long as you set your mind to it. You know, just

333
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set your mind to it. Just go for it. Mhmm. I feel like I should

334
00:20:18,585 --> 00:20:22,430
have better words for that, but it's just I've been listening to another podcast for

335
00:20:22,430 --> 00:20:26,270
a while. It's just, you know, 2 guitar builders talking about their

336
00:20:26,270 --> 00:20:29,155
processes. And that's, like, one of the things he said because

337
00:20:30,915 --> 00:20:34,515
garage for years. Like, if I can do this because he had a corporate

338
00:20:34,515 --> 00:20:38,130
job. Like, he had no woodworking experience

339
00:20:38,429 --> 00:20:42,270
at all, and he was like an accountant or something like that. And he

340
00:20:42,270 --> 00:20:44,990
was he was building guitars in his garage. And he's like, if I can do

341
00:20:44,990 --> 00:20:48,825
this, anybody can do this. It's not that difficult. Just, you know,

342
00:20:49,285 --> 00:20:53,065
take your time. Be careful. You know? Just measure

343
00:20:53,525 --> 00:20:57,169
6 times and cut once. It's wrong anyways

344
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and do it again. Yeah. That

345
00:21:00,770 --> 00:21:03,650
that's awesome. You also let me know what, the name of that podcast is. That

346
00:21:03,650 --> 00:21:07,345
sounds really It's unfortunately no longer happening anymore, but I think

347
00:21:07,345 --> 00:21:11,105
it's it's archived online, but I can send it to you because it's

348
00:21:11,105 --> 00:21:14,510
still very interesting. Yeah. For sure.

349
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But, yeah, no. That does that does speak to there's kinda like the belief that

350
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anything really is possible if you put enough. If you really want it bad enough,

351
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I feel like any anything really is possible. If you wanna, you

352
00:21:25,695 --> 00:21:29,280
know, plague is hard. It's not that hard. Sure. It's it's difficult at first, and,

353
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you know, your fingers will hurt. And it's like you'll you'll come up with

354
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some kind of hurdle, and you'll come up with an excuse. If you're if you

355
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want to have an excuse, you'll come up with an excuse. But if you want

356
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to get it done, you'll find a way to get it done. That's kind of

357
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the attitude I bring to it. And it's like that's why I keep my first

358
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guitar hanging up there just to remind myself, like, you can do it.

359
00:21:49,130 --> 00:21:52,730
Look how far you've come. Like, keep something there that reminds

360
00:21:52,730 --> 00:21:56,225
you that you can do it. You can do just about anything.

361
00:21:56,705 --> 00:22:00,465
Mhmm. Yeah. I like that a lot. Especially, it's relatable for, like, people,

362
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like, who wanna learn how to play guitar. So many people have said to me,

363
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like, oh, that's cool. You could play guitar, but I could, like, never figure like,

364
00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:10,160
I can't learn how to do that. And I'm always like, well, it's like, I

365
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:13,200
didn't know how to do it either. Like, it's just you just do it a

366
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,195
couple of times and, like, get better and better at it. And you just gotta,

367
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like, want to be able to do it bad enough. Right. Dedicate the

368
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time, the time and persistence, and just surround

369
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yourself with people that do the things you want. Surround yourself with

370
00:22:26,890 --> 00:22:30,429
musicians. Surround yourself with other people that build things.

371
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Learn from them, and then the motivation will be there.

372
00:22:34,655 --> 00:22:38,335
Yeah. Totally. That's another big part of it, I think, too. And a big part

373
00:22:38,335 --> 00:22:41,475
that I found, like, within, like, business or, like, entrepreneurs,

374
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meeting other people that are doing those similar things. And then, you know, because

375
00:22:45,909 --> 00:22:48,789
then it helps you kinda get through the more difficult times because it's like, oh,

376
00:22:48,789 --> 00:22:51,915
I'm I'm not the only one who's struggling with this thing. Like, this guy's also

377
00:22:51,915 --> 00:22:55,595
struggling with it, and he can or she can almost help you get

378
00:22:55,595 --> 00:22:59,035
through it if they've been there before. So community has been, like, a big aspect

379
00:22:59,035 --> 00:23:02,220
for me and my personal growth. Right. It's very important. Yeah.

380
00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:08,140
So you mentioned that, like, you kinda just been building kind of per

381
00:23:08,140 --> 00:23:11,505
request on, like, what people want. Have you ever had

382
00:23:11,505 --> 00:23:15,345
to go out and, like, try to sell your guitars, like, market

383
00:23:15,345 --> 00:23:18,930
your business or, like I haven't yet. I'm still kind of

384
00:23:18,930 --> 00:23:22,770
in the the beginning stages of the business side of it, really. It's I'm still

385
00:23:22,850 --> 00:23:26,610
it's still it's still basically a passion project right now. You know? Like, I

386
00:23:26,610 --> 00:23:30,365
do this in my spare time. Eventually, that's the goal is to go

387
00:23:30,365 --> 00:23:34,125
full time, and I'm getting closer all the time. You know? I have

388
00:23:34,125 --> 00:23:37,340
big plans hopefully for later this year. But,

389
00:23:37,580 --> 00:23:41,340
it's it's we're getting closer all the time to, like, just jumping full

390
00:23:41,340 --> 00:23:44,924
time into this. It's just getting the word out there, getting more, you know,

391
00:23:44,924 --> 00:23:48,765
exposure. I try to get out there, you know, bring stuff to shows, put

392
00:23:48,765 --> 00:23:52,580
it in people's faces as much as possible. I just wanna get them in people's

393
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,220
hands, but, you know, we're getting there.

394
00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:00,135
Yeah. I imagine part of it too is like, if you're the one

395
00:24:00,135 --> 00:24:03,895
kind of doing all the work there's at some point, like a cap of like

396
00:24:03,895 --> 00:24:07,480
how much you can actually physically build. Right. That's the thing. And

397
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,159
that's that's my big plan for this this coming year because, I

398
00:24:11,159 --> 00:24:14,455
mean, doing it in my spare time, you know, with full time job with a

399
00:24:14,455 --> 00:24:18,175
family, you know, kids, dogs, all that, I don't have as much time as

400
00:24:18,175 --> 00:24:21,615
I'd like to be able to to, devote to it. But the next

401
00:24:21,615 --> 00:24:25,360
step is to get a CNC and make that do most of the work,

402
00:24:25,360 --> 00:24:28,320
you know? So that's gonna be a whole another learning curve. Now I gotta learn,

403
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:32,080
you know, software. But if I can get that to do 90% of the

404
00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,875
work in a couple hours versus, you know, days of

405
00:24:35,875 --> 00:24:39,015
me spending little bits time here and there,

406
00:24:39,395 --> 00:24:43,100
then I can, you know, batch them out quicker and get

407
00:24:43,100 --> 00:24:46,940
things done. The faster I could build them, the better, really. I

408
00:24:46,940 --> 00:24:50,780
mean Yeah. Totally. So when you design, like, a body of

409
00:24:50,780 --> 00:24:54,625
a guitar now, are you, like, hand sketching it out and, like, hand measuring it?

410
00:24:54,925 --> 00:24:58,765
Yeah. I draw them out full scale because you can draw it out,

411
00:24:58,765 --> 00:25:02,340
get it smaller, whatever. You draw it on a computer, but for me, it

412
00:25:02,340 --> 00:25:06,100
just it doesn't translate as well. And so once you can draw it

413
00:25:06,100 --> 00:25:09,780
out full scale and really get a feel for it, it makes such a big

414
00:25:09,780 --> 00:25:13,555
difference. And even after I've drawn it, like, I

415
00:25:13,555 --> 00:25:16,915
have to cut it out of something and then, like, actually be able to see

416
00:25:16,915 --> 00:25:20,680
what it looks like. Put a strap on it, like, hold it onto your

417
00:25:20,680 --> 00:25:24,040
body and be like, this is kind of what it should feel like. You

418
00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,825
know? But the design process, you'd think it'd be pretty

419
00:25:27,825 --> 00:25:31,505
simple and straightforward, but it you know, you change little lines here and

420
00:25:31,505 --> 00:25:34,620
there just because it doesn't look right. But, yeah, I draw them out full scale,

421
00:25:34,620 --> 00:25:37,840
measure everything out, and that seems to help.

422
00:25:37,980 --> 00:25:41,664
But even then, I've drawn out things full scale and, like, I hate this

423
00:25:41,664 --> 00:25:45,184
until I cut it out. And then it's, like, just a little tweak here and

424
00:25:45,184 --> 00:25:48,705
there, and then it's not so bad. Yeah. No. That's gotta be, like,

425
00:25:48,705 --> 00:25:52,380
a interesting process to, like, go back and forth. Because, I mean, there's, like, your

426
00:25:52,380 --> 00:25:56,059
traditional guitar shapes, but you don't really make or may or I

427
00:25:56,059 --> 00:25:58,934
haven't seen at least on on social media is, like, your body shapes are, like,

428
00:25:58,934 --> 00:26:02,774
very interesting, and they kinda, like, stand out to me. Yeah. There's

429
00:26:02,774 --> 00:26:06,054
there's only so much you can do within that, you know, the framework. I mean,

430
00:26:06,054 --> 00:26:09,030
you have a neck and the strings and the bridge, and it's like, you can

431
00:26:09,030 --> 00:26:12,550
only go so far without it looking really weird. Right. You

432
00:26:12,550 --> 00:26:16,070
know? So it's like, you can you can go weird and there are people that

433
00:26:16,070 --> 00:26:19,155
do that or, you know, there's only so much you can do that it just

434
00:26:19,155 --> 00:26:22,835
looks like a guitar that you know, it has it has to

435
00:26:22,835 --> 00:26:26,190
fall within a certain range to be comfortable and

436
00:26:26,190 --> 00:26:30,030
playable and not look awful, but, you know, still have

437
00:26:30,030 --> 00:26:33,565
some of your own personality in there as far as design. There's there's

438
00:26:33,565 --> 00:26:37,005
only so much you can really do. So it's like, yeah, I have I have

439
00:26:37,005 --> 00:26:40,365
one that's kinda like a scratch shape and Telly and Les Paul,

440
00:26:40,365 --> 00:26:44,000
but they're not like those at the same time. You know?

441
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:47,520
Mhmm. One of my focuses on that is to, you know, to

442
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,995
be ergonomic, As playable as possible. Like, take

443
00:26:51,395 --> 00:26:55,075
I have one that's, you know, Les Paul shaped, but it doesn't

444
00:26:55,075 --> 00:26:58,360
feel like that because it's like I I hate playing Les Pauls. They're one of

445
00:26:58,360 --> 00:27:01,399
my favorite to look at, but, you know, they have their issues. You know, they

446
00:27:01,559 --> 00:27:04,940
they're always, like, falling off your lap if you're, you know, sitting down or whatever.

447
00:27:04,955 --> 00:27:08,715
So I tried to balance it better, get more, you know, higher fret

448
00:27:08,715 --> 00:27:12,495
access and make it more comfortable just to get rid of all of its issues,

449
00:27:12,875 --> 00:27:16,670
but kinda some of the look. That was kind of my idea. It's like it

450
00:27:16,670 --> 00:27:20,350
shouldn't be fighting. It should be it should be as easy to play as

451
00:27:20,350 --> 00:27:23,635
possible, but has to look great too. You know? If If it doesn't look good,

452
00:27:23,635 --> 00:27:27,475
you're not gonna pick it up. So looks are extremely important, but playability

453
00:27:27,475 --> 00:27:30,535
is, you know, the most important. Mhmm.

454
00:27:30,940 --> 00:27:34,720
Totally. And so do you have, like, a couple different, like, models that you

455
00:27:34,860 --> 00:27:38,515
continually make, or do you always make Yeah. A different shape? My idea when I

456
00:27:38,515 --> 00:27:41,315
started to do this was, like, ah, just making custom and do whatever I want

457
00:27:41,315 --> 00:27:44,835
all the time. But then that that gets very, very

458
00:27:44,835 --> 00:27:48,610
difficult to do because then you're always designing something or leaving it up to

459
00:27:48,610 --> 00:27:52,210
to the customer, and things can get a little weird then. Not that there's anything

460
00:27:52,210 --> 00:27:56,025
wrong with that. But, but, yeah, I I I designed a few things,

461
00:27:56,025 --> 00:27:59,865
and those are, like, my my standard custom shapes that are, you

462
00:27:59,865 --> 00:28:03,360
know, mine that like, if you wanna do whatever within that

463
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,480
that framework, we can do that. You know, I can make it an 8 string

464
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,240
if you want or, you know, change whatever bridge. That's

465
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,745
where the custom aspect comes in. It's like, this is my shape. Well, whatever you

466
00:28:13,745 --> 00:28:17,585
wanna do within that, we can do that and make it

467
00:28:17,585 --> 00:28:21,370
happen. So, like, every detail is, you know, up to you,

468
00:28:21,370 --> 00:28:25,210
basically. Is it much more difficult to make, like,

469
00:28:25,450 --> 00:28:29,294
a 8 string or 7 string guitar versus a 6 string? Not really. It's all

470
00:28:29,294 --> 00:28:32,975
pretty much the same. It's very straightforward. It's just more

471
00:28:32,975 --> 00:28:36,340
wood. Yeah. More wood, more

472
00:28:36,340 --> 00:28:39,700
strings. Pretty much. It's it's yeah. It's all basically the same

473
00:28:39,700 --> 00:28:43,059
thing. You know, you start with a center line, work from there, and that's it.

474
00:28:43,059 --> 00:28:46,705
Just adding or taking away something. That's that's all woodworking

475
00:28:46,705 --> 00:28:49,045
is is starting with wood and subtracting.

476
00:28:50,865 --> 00:28:54,640
Interesting. So what, what do you think it's been like the most

477
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,540
challenging thing as far as like learning how to make a guitar?

478
00:28:58,406 --> 00:29:02,195
Passion. Passion. Yeah. You get it to a point and you're

479
00:29:02,195 --> 00:29:05,075
just like, I wanna put this together, but you still have, you know, a lot

480
00:29:05,075 --> 00:29:08,455
of sanding or painting the worst parts. You know?

481
00:29:08,914 --> 00:29:12,290
Patience, you know? Just take your time. Make it make it

482
00:29:12,290 --> 00:29:15,590
right. Do it right the first time. You don't have to do it again. So

483
00:29:15,815 --> 00:29:19,325
passion, that's probably been the hardest thing. And I am not a patient

484
00:29:19,325 --> 00:29:22,305
person because of, you know, many reasons.

485
00:29:23,725 --> 00:29:27,085
Mhmm. I have been checking out, like, your social media stuff, and I noticed that,

486
00:29:27,085 --> 00:29:30,280
like, you know, you make you do a good job making reels when you can,

487
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:33,800
and, I did notice that one of them seemed to quote

488
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,515
unquote go viral. I was wondering, if

489
00:29:37,515 --> 00:29:41,195
that, like, had any, positive effects come from it.

490
00:29:41,195 --> 00:29:43,995
No. I mean, yeah. I think I know which one you're that was the one

491
00:29:43,995 --> 00:29:47,340
where I was pulling that giant thing out of my basement. Right? Yeah. The big

492
00:29:47,340 --> 00:29:50,940
piece of wood, the knot. Was I think it had, like, over a It had

493
00:29:50,940 --> 00:29:54,485
a it had a 1,000,000 over a 1000000 views out of hold on. I found

494
00:29:54,485 --> 00:29:58,085
it. Wait. Let me just confirm how many. So it

495
00:29:58,085 --> 00:30:01,865
has 1,300,000, which was, like, which mind blowing.

496
00:30:02,310 --> 00:30:05,530
Most of my videos are, like, 2, 300 views.

497
00:30:07,510 --> 00:30:10,870
And, like, that one has nothing to do with guitar building. But,

498
00:30:11,430 --> 00:30:14,975
Yeah. I mean, I got quite a few followers out of that,

499
00:30:14,975 --> 00:30:18,815
actually, but not not as many as I was hoping. But, you know, a

500
00:30:18,815 --> 00:30:22,570
decent amount either way. But, yeah,

501
00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:26,090
that that that piece of wood is actually being turned into a base right now

502
00:30:26,090 --> 00:30:29,290
for my son. So Oh, nice. Or at least a part of it. That was

503
00:30:29,290 --> 00:30:32,845
a really big piece of wood. Yeah.

504
00:30:32,845 --> 00:30:36,685
Nice. And because of the, like, it was kind of a knot. Right? So is

505
00:30:36,845 --> 00:30:40,640
It's a burl. Yeah. A burl. Okay. And that kinda gives you the

506
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:44,160
nice, like, tops that you find on the tops? It'll give you all that, like,

507
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,860
curly stuff. A burl, I mean, you wanna get into the

508
00:30:48,155 --> 00:30:51,915
the science and whatever, it's it's basically, it's a disease

509
00:30:51,915 --> 00:30:55,595
on the tree, and it's a growth, almost like a cancer, and they kinda

510
00:30:55,595 --> 00:30:59,330
grow off the side of it. But the wood gets all very twisted and

511
00:30:59,330 --> 00:31:03,110
the grains just kinda just twist around and stuff like that.

512
00:31:03,250 --> 00:31:06,994
And, they look really pretty when you slice them nice and flat Interesting.

513
00:31:07,274 --> 00:31:11,034
Which way you slice them. So what's the difference between, like, that and,

514
00:31:11,034 --> 00:31:14,880
like, a flamed maple top where it's you've got, like, the straight lines? Well,

515
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:18,560
that that's actually, like, stretch marks. So, like, the tree has been,

516
00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,085
like, flexing and things like that, and you'll get, like, those little stretches in it.

517
00:31:22,565 --> 00:31:26,164
And then you slice it out of that. So, basically, the grain is

518
00:31:26,164 --> 00:31:29,924
actually wider and more open in the in certain areas and and tighter in other

519
00:31:29,924 --> 00:31:33,549
ones, and that's why you get those. And quilted maples, I'm not really

520
00:31:33,549 --> 00:31:36,910
sure how that one works, but it's it's similar, but it's

521
00:31:36,910 --> 00:31:39,995
more curled around, things like that. But

522
00:31:40,375 --> 00:31:44,215
interesting. Is that something that, like, you can get more into, like,

523
00:31:44,215 --> 00:31:47,255
once you've figured out how to make guitars is like putting like nice tops on

524
00:31:47,255 --> 00:31:49,600
them and stuff like that? Like, I mean, that's easy enough. It's just if you

525
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:53,360
wanna spend the money, because those things are very expensive. Okay. When you see

526
00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:57,120
those on guitars, like go to the store, see them. They're usually very, very thin

527
00:31:57,120 --> 00:32:00,705
veneers. They're not, like, full tops unless you're spending a lot of

528
00:32:00,705 --> 00:32:03,985
money if you go to, like, I don't know, PRS. Most of those, they're they're

529
00:32:03,985 --> 00:32:07,789
thick full tops, but you're you're paying a premium for them. But,

530
00:32:07,789 --> 00:32:11,549
you know, 90% of the time, they're just sliced so thin that they can

531
00:32:11,549 --> 00:32:15,155
get as many out of them as possible. But yeah. I mean, I've done a

532
00:32:15,155 --> 00:32:18,835
couple of flame tops, and, they're just

533
00:32:18,835 --> 00:32:21,990
expensive. Yeah. I I tend not to do them just because it's

534
00:32:22,309 --> 00:32:26,070
cheaper. Sure. Depends on what the customer wants to

535
00:32:26,070 --> 00:32:29,755
pay for, really. Mhmm. Right. Right. And so what's the the

536
00:32:29,755 --> 00:32:33,595
process like with, like, getting a new customer? I imagine convincing them

537
00:32:33,595 --> 00:32:36,821
first to, like, buy the guitar and then, like Yeah. Well, I mean how is

538
00:32:36,821 --> 00:32:40,040
the design process? I've had it go a couple of different ways. Like, I I'll

539
00:32:40,180 --> 00:32:43,060
sometimes just get this out of the way real quick. Like, you know, I'll build

540
00:32:43,060 --> 00:32:46,420
a spec build just like something I felt like building and then put it out

541
00:32:46,420 --> 00:32:48,805
there, like, hey. It's for sale. And people are like, yeah. I'll I'll take that.

542
00:32:48,805 --> 00:32:52,645
That's great. But, yeah, the process usually is somebody will

543
00:32:52,645 --> 00:32:56,165
come to me and be like, hey, I really like your work, and I kinda

544
00:32:56,165 --> 00:32:59,753
want something like this. But then, you know, it's just like go down the

545
00:32:59,753 --> 00:33:03,456
list of everything. The average guitarist doesn't think about all of those details.

546
00:33:03,456 --> 00:33:07,095
They're just like, I want a purple guitar. Okay? But

547
00:33:07,095 --> 00:33:10,054
do you want, you know, this fretboard would be how many frets? You know, what

548
00:33:10,054 --> 00:33:12,775
do you want for a bridge? And they're like, oh, I didn't think of any

549
00:33:12,775 --> 00:33:16,160
of that. So it's just me asking,

550
00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:19,520
like, so many questions. I need to, like, come up with a form and put

551
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,340
it on the website and just, you know, just check all that stuff off, man.

552
00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:26,855
But, yeah, it's just it's just a lot of questions and,

553
00:33:26,995 --> 00:33:30,515
like, every little detail. And the more you can provide me with

554
00:33:30,515 --> 00:33:34,270
details, the better. But, I've also had people like, I just want kinda

555
00:33:34,270 --> 00:33:37,870
this and you just run with it. Just go for it. Whatever you think. And

556
00:33:37,870 --> 00:33:41,275
it kinda needs to be this color ish. So whatever you

557
00:33:41,275 --> 00:33:44,875
think. And that can be difficult because now it's all up to me, and now

558
00:33:44,875 --> 00:33:48,370
I gotta make all these decisions. But and then it's like, oh, I hope they

559
00:33:48,370 --> 00:33:51,730
like it. But when it's a spec build, then I'm just doing whatever I want.

560
00:33:51,730 --> 00:33:55,410
It's simpler. But, you know, I did have one like that a little while

561
00:33:55,410 --> 00:33:59,215
ago where they just gave me basically free reign. It's like, it's a

562
00:33:59,215 --> 00:34:02,895
friend of mine that I've known for 20 something years. He's good friends. I need

563
00:34:03,055 --> 00:34:06,870
did you know the band Paris? They're from they're from, like,

564
00:34:06,870 --> 00:34:10,469
Boston, Lowell area. Okay. And they all live in

565
00:34:10,469 --> 00:34:14,085
London now. But my friend, he grew up with them. He's like, I I

566
00:34:14,085 --> 00:34:17,204
wanna get this guitar. I want you to build a guitar for my friend as

567
00:34:17,204 --> 00:34:20,870
a gift. So, like, he just had me build this. Like, he's just left handed,

568
00:34:21,590 --> 00:34:25,210
and that's all I had to go with. Like, well,

569
00:34:25,670 --> 00:34:29,054
it's like, just give me as much information on the guitar as he already owns,

570
00:34:29,054 --> 00:34:32,574
and then we'll build something completely opposite. And that's what we

571
00:34:32,574 --> 00:34:36,355
did. I was like, I think it should be like this color.

572
00:34:37,170 --> 00:34:40,930
So we went with a random blue, but it was. It was completely different

573
00:34:40,930 --> 00:34:44,775
than anything else he's had. So and I'm still waiting to

574
00:34:44,775 --> 00:34:48,215
go to one of their concerts and watch them play it. So Nice. Yeah. I

575
00:34:48,215 --> 00:34:51,735
think I saw that video on, Instagram because he his friend, like,

576
00:34:51,735 --> 00:34:55,219
surprised him with it, and Yeah. He, like, had a video and, like, yeah, that

577
00:34:55,219 --> 00:34:57,780
was that was a really cool moment. That must have been cool to, like, you

578
00:34:57,780 --> 00:35:00,740
know, see him, like, witness it for the first time and be, like, completely blown

579
00:35:00,740 --> 00:35:04,525
away by how cool it was. Yeah. That's that's my favorite part of building,

580
00:35:04,525 --> 00:35:08,205
actually, is, it's not necessarily the build process. It's it's

581
00:35:08,205 --> 00:35:12,020
like seeing customer's face, like, when they they get to see

582
00:35:12,020 --> 00:35:15,860
it for the first time is, that's gotta be, from

583
00:35:15,860 --> 00:35:19,700
their perspective, such a weird experience. Like, if you wanted to buy a guitar

584
00:35:19,700 --> 00:35:22,964
and walked into, you know, a music shop right now, you're gonna get to pick

585
00:35:22,964 --> 00:35:26,565
it up and play it. But if you want to buy one for me, you're

586
00:35:26,565 --> 00:35:29,850
not gonna get to touch that thing until it's done. So,

587
00:35:30,070 --> 00:35:33,830
hopefully, you like it. So it's kind of nerve racking for me, but, like, also

588
00:35:33,830 --> 00:35:37,595
weird for the customer. But I haven't been on that end of the experience.

589
00:35:39,495 --> 00:35:43,335
May maybe one day. Yeah. Maybe someday. Maybe I'll get somebody to build me something

590
00:35:43,335 --> 00:35:46,970
so I can actually keep one for myself. Yeah. And then I'll surprise myself

591
00:35:46,970 --> 00:35:50,730
with it. But, yeah,

592
00:35:50,730 --> 00:35:54,490
watching people play them on stage is my probably my favorite part of the whole

593
00:35:54,490 --> 00:35:58,155
process because it's it's, I liken it to, like, watching

594
00:35:58,155 --> 00:36:01,915
your kid play sports or something. Like, that's my kid playing football, but that's

595
00:36:01,915 --> 00:36:05,750
my kid on stage, you know, being played. Some weird

596
00:36:05,750 --> 00:36:09,110
analogy, but I suppose but it's, you know, it's kind of the same thing, which

597
00:36:09,110 --> 00:36:12,705
is also nerve wracking. Like, I hope nothing bad happens with it while they're playing.

598
00:36:15,745 --> 00:36:19,525
Right. That's, that's interesting. So I I would think that, like,

599
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,080
guitars are kinda, like, maybe a similar way. I don't I don't know if this

600
00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:26,920
is a good analogy, but, like, in fashion, for example, like, when somebody's, like, wearing

601
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:30,525
your thing at some famous event, they're, like then you kinda get

602
00:36:30,525 --> 00:36:34,125
known. His guitar's got the same way, like, if you get a guitarist that's in,

603
00:36:34,125 --> 00:36:37,825
like, a pretty famous band to play a guitar, and then all his famous

604
00:36:38,130 --> 00:36:41,490
guitarist friends are like, oh, what's that? That's that's what I'm hoping for because it's

605
00:36:41,490 --> 00:36:44,930
like you're not gonna get that from the audience. Like, they're gonna play guitar on

606
00:36:44,930 --> 00:36:48,444
stage, and 90% of the people there who watch him aren't, you

607
00:36:48,444 --> 00:36:52,125
know, musicians, so they don't care what he's playing. You know? You gotta get the

608
00:36:52,125 --> 00:36:55,670
nerdy guy that's, what's that? You know, trying to loop his pedalboard. That that guy.

609
00:36:55,730 --> 00:36:59,250
Yeah. That's that's me. But yeah. Me too. But,

610
00:36:59,730 --> 00:37:02,815
yeah, I'll see a weird guitar like, oh, what is what is that? It's looks

611
00:37:02,815 --> 00:37:06,375
like this, but it's can't see. I'm blind. But,

612
00:37:06,495 --> 00:37:09,775
yeah, I think it's like getting it into their hands and getting their friends to

613
00:37:09,775 --> 00:37:13,620
see it, like getting their tech, you know, to see it and, you know, getting

614
00:37:13,700 --> 00:37:17,300
those those are the people that I really want, you know, to getting their hands

615
00:37:17,300 --> 00:37:20,820
on it. So getting it to the guy from Paris, like, that's a big deal

616
00:37:20,820 --> 00:37:24,494
for me. In December, I had a guitar that I built.

617
00:37:24,954 --> 00:37:28,714
I had built it for somebody, but, unfortunately, they had they couldn't, you know, they

618
00:37:28,714 --> 00:37:32,250
had to back out on the deal, which is fine. But I just had it.

619
00:37:32,250 --> 00:37:36,010
I kept trying to sell it. It was kind of, it was, like, multi scale

620
00:37:36,010 --> 00:37:39,795
and kinda weird. Like, the average person is, like, was a little probably much for

621
00:37:39,795 --> 00:37:42,674
them, but I was just hanging on to it. I gotta get rid of this

622
00:37:42,674 --> 00:37:46,035
thing. Then I was just like, I should just give it to somebody at this

623
00:37:46,035 --> 00:37:49,560
point. So I was seeing one of my favorite bands. I was like, you know

624
00:37:49,560 --> 00:37:52,600
what? I'm gonna give it to them. So I was the weird guy after the

625
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:55,400
show out, like, the sidewalk. I was waiting for them to come out while they

626
00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:59,085
were unloading. Like, hey. I have a guitar for you. Like, what?

627
00:37:59,704 --> 00:38:03,464
That's awesome. What band was it? Rivers of Nile. Oh,

628
00:38:03,464 --> 00:38:07,289
cool. Cool. That's awesome. So I'm wearing their shirt. Yeah.

629
00:38:08,470 --> 00:38:11,269
Yeah. So did they take it and, like, play it or give you any feedback

630
00:38:11,269 --> 00:38:14,474
or anything? I haven't heard from them yet because I, like, I didn't wanna be

631
00:38:14,474 --> 00:38:17,515
that guy where, like, here, I'm giving you a guitar, you know, let me know,

632
00:38:17,515 --> 00:38:20,955
you know, whatever, follow me on Instagram. Like, I gave it to

633
00:38:20,955 --> 00:38:24,730
them and trying not to be the weird guy that's, you know, stalkers. But, like,

634
00:38:24,730 --> 00:38:27,930
look, I just want to give you this to you just because, you know, you've

635
00:38:27,930 --> 00:38:31,265
given me a lot of music that I enjoyed, and I want you to have

636
00:38:31,265 --> 00:38:35,105
something. And, just take it. I don't want anything back from you. So I haven't

637
00:38:35,105 --> 00:38:37,365
heard from them. They might have taken that too seriously.

638
00:38:39,270 --> 00:38:42,790
But, I mean, I know they have it, so whatever. It's it's all good. But,

639
00:38:42,790 --> 00:38:46,525
like, they're they're, like, one of the they're they're

640
00:38:46,525 --> 00:38:50,045
not, like, super famous yet. They're still, like, coming up. They have, like, 4

641
00:38:50,045 --> 00:38:53,805
albums, but they're not huge yet. So, like, I talked to their

642
00:38:53,805 --> 00:38:57,440
singer who's also their bassist, and I'm giving him the guitar. I was kinda

643
00:38:57,440 --> 00:38:59,680
hoping to talk to the guitar player because now I feel bad that I'm not

644
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:03,520
giving him the bass. But, he was, like, kinda

645
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:07,174
surprised, like, just wanna give us a guitar. Well,

646
00:39:07,174 --> 00:39:10,535
yeah. Yeah. That's here. This is for you. And, like, I

647
00:39:10,535 --> 00:39:14,350
I assume he was, like, what is this? Just like some kit guitar piece of

648
00:39:14,350 --> 00:39:17,970
crap? Like, he didn't say that. That's just like that was me automatically

649
00:39:18,110 --> 00:39:21,230
assuming they're thinking this is some crazy person with some piece of crap that he

650
00:39:21,230 --> 00:39:24,285
built. You know, I'd pulled it out and show it to him. He's kinda blown

651
00:39:24,285 --> 00:39:27,724
away by the whole situation. Like, wow. For real? You're just

652
00:39:27,724 --> 00:39:31,350
gonna give this to us? Like, yeah. Take it.

653
00:39:31,350 --> 00:39:34,710
Enjoy it. I just want somebody to play it because it's not doing me any

654
00:39:34,710 --> 00:39:37,910
good sitting in my house going nowhere. You know? Like, I don't have time to

655
00:39:37,910 --> 00:39:40,895
play it. That's the one that I could've kept for myself,

656
00:39:41,435 --> 00:39:44,955
but but yeah. Like, just getting it into somebody's hands.

657
00:39:44,955 --> 00:39:48,720
So, like, hopefully, that that goes somewhere maybe. And I told

658
00:39:48,720 --> 00:39:51,760
told him, like, maybe I'll build you a base now. So now I have plans

659
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,960
to build a base for him, but he doesn't know about it yet. He'll never

660
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:58,725
listen to this probably. I'll DM it to

661
00:39:58,725 --> 00:40:02,425
him. Yeah. I don't know.

662
00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:06,180
That's funny. I'm still not that crazy.

663
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:11,680
That'd be cool. If one day you see him planning on stage though. That would

664
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:15,485
be, that would be pretty great. Yeah. So Mhmm. That's the goal someday, get more

665
00:40:15,485 --> 00:40:19,325
famous people to play them. So So,

666
00:40:19,645 --> 00:40:22,765
as we're kinda coming to the end of our time here, I I do like

667
00:40:22,765 --> 00:40:26,589
to ask, like, what's the future of you know, what what's the

668
00:40:26,589 --> 00:40:29,789
future of the company or the business or or what you wanna do, because I

669
00:40:29,789 --> 00:40:33,505
do think there's power in, like, you know, envisioning what you want to become.

670
00:40:33,565 --> 00:40:37,325
So so where's the future of CRC Guitars? So, like like I

671
00:40:37,325 --> 00:40:41,049
said, I have big plans for this year. Get a get a CNC machine,

672
00:40:41,049 --> 00:40:44,730
start, you know, pumping these things out. And, the goal has

673
00:40:44,730 --> 00:40:48,305
always been, you know, quit my job and just do this full time, you know,

674
00:40:48,305 --> 00:40:52,065
get a separate shop away from my house or maybe, you know, at

675
00:40:52,065 --> 00:40:55,585
least not inside the house. And just, you know, be able to do

676
00:40:55,585 --> 00:40:59,420
this full time would be amazing. You know? That's that's

677
00:40:59,420 --> 00:41:03,099
the goal. That's the plan. And the sooner, the better. But I'm always just

678
00:41:03,260 --> 00:41:07,095
I'm always making little steps going towards that. So I

679
00:41:07,095 --> 00:41:10,695
don't know if you saw, Instagram or whatever the other day. One of my

680
00:41:10,695 --> 00:41:14,460
ideas for the future, I wanna start a YouTube channel,

681
00:41:14,840 --> 00:41:18,680
which I want to be able to point to my stuff. But, like, the whole

682
00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:21,944
idea of it is to be able to help other people.

683
00:41:22,325 --> 00:41:26,005
Because, I mean, not everybody most guitarists are broke as it is.

684
00:41:26,005 --> 00:41:29,800
They're not gonna be able to afford a, a custom instrument. You know, we're talking

685
00:41:29,800 --> 00:41:33,640
1,000 of dollars. But, you know, you wanna go buy something cheap,

686
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:37,400
but cheap guitars always suck. Right? They always have something. Right. You could go

687
00:41:37,400 --> 00:41:41,045
buy a Squire and it's fine. But, like, people are always

688
00:41:41,045 --> 00:41:44,885
looking at these cheap guitars on Amazon. And you see these channels on

689
00:41:44,885 --> 00:41:47,780
YouTube all the time, like, I bought the cheapest guitar on Amazon and see how

690
00:41:47,780 --> 00:41:51,540
much it sucks, and they always suck. But my idea,

691
00:41:51,540 --> 00:41:54,955
my take on it, it's like, Yeah, there's so many people already doing That's fine.

692
00:41:54,955 --> 00:41:58,475
They can keep doing that. But they're like, I'll take it. I'll review it as

693
00:41:58,475 --> 00:42:01,570
if you just bought it and be like, okay, this is what's wrong with me,

694
00:42:01,570 --> 00:42:05,330
but here's how you can fix that. Most things are fixable. Like,

695
00:42:05,330 --> 00:42:08,850
that's like another mentality I have. Everything can be fixed. You

696
00:42:08,850 --> 00:42:12,645
know? There are no real bad guitars unless, like, the neck is twisted

697
00:42:12,645 --> 00:42:15,845
or something. It may be cheap, but it can you can still make it play

698
00:42:15,845 --> 00:42:18,660
it and you can still make it comfortable. But, you know, here's how you do

699
00:42:18,660 --> 00:42:21,940
it. Like, this guitar, if you bought this one, it's got this problem or at

700
00:42:21,940 --> 00:42:24,819
least mine does, the one I bought. And this is how you fix it. Let's

701
00:42:24,819 --> 00:42:28,345
go through something like that. Because, let's face it, if you're buying cheap

702
00:42:28,345 --> 00:42:31,945
guitars, you're not planning on bringing it to somebody to pay them to fix it.

703
00:42:31,945 --> 00:42:35,780
You're buying a cheap guitar because it's cheap. So I'll try to, like, fix it

704
00:42:35,780 --> 00:42:38,740
and show you how to fix it with something you probably have instead of my

705
00:42:38,740 --> 00:42:42,580
100 of dollars worth of ridiculously specific files,

706
00:42:42,580 --> 00:42:46,275
you know? Because there are tricks to get around things and if you

707
00:42:46,275 --> 00:42:49,815
don't own all that stuff. Because most people aren't gonna spend, you know, $500

708
00:42:50,035 --> 00:42:53,650
on nut files because you have to have every single, you know, gauge string,

709
00:42:54,829 --> 00:42:57,710
which I did because, you know, if I'm gonna do this, you gotta have all

710
00:42:57,710 --> 00:43:01,345
the right stuff. But, like, that's that's one of my ideas and where I'm

711
00:43:01,345 --> 00:43:04,705
planning on going forward, but it's still, you know, very much in

712
00:43:04,705 --> 00:43:08,545
the, the idea process. I still have to dedicate an

713
00:43:08,545 --> 00:43:12,200
area to, like, set up, you know, something to shoot video

714
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:15,960
for and then, you know, get some cheap instruments. But, like, that

715
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:19,585
requires audience participation because, like, I could just pick something cheap

716
00:43:19,585 --> 00:43:22,464
online, but it's like, what were you guys looking for? You know? Were you just

717
00:43:22,464 --> 00:43:25,505
looking at a specific instrument, but you're, you know, afraid to pull the trigger on

718
00:43:25,505 --> 00:43:28,440
it because it could be a piece of crap? I'll do it.

719
00:43:29,380 --> 00:43:32,180
But if I keep doing this, I'd I'll end up with, you know, a stack

720
00:43:32,180 --> 00:43:35,780
of cheap guitars. So I'd either have to, like, you know, flip

721
00:43:35,780 --> 00:43:39,505
them, sell them, or, you know, give them away to, subscribers or

722
00:43:39,505 --> 00:43:43,105
whatever. Yeah. That's a good idea. Give them away to somebody that could

723
00:43:43,105 --> 00:43:46,710
actually use it. So now it's cheap guitar, but now it's been, you know,

724
00:43:46,710 --> 00:43:49,210
professional setup. Air quotes.

725
00:43:50,630 --> 00:43:54,375
I have a hard time calling myself a professional. It's, you know, the imposter syndrome

726
00:43:54,375 --> 00:43:58,135
thing. I mean, I've been doing it for long enough to probably call myself a

727
00:43:58,135 --> 00:44:01,730
professional, but, you know, that's that whole thing.

728
00:44:01,890 --> 00:44:04,850
Voice in your head tells you you can't. Yeah. Like, you're you're an idiot. You're

729
00:44:04,850 --> 00:44:07,730
just you make making this up. You learned everything. You know how to do this

730
00:44:07,730 --> 00:44:11,494
from YouTube. You know? That's another one of my goals for, you

731
00:44:11,494 --> 00:44:15,095
know, the coming year. I don't know when that's gonna start, but that's that's part

732
00:44:15,095 --> 00:44:18,519
of it. So the and I'm and I'm hoping that, you know, that brings more

733
00:44:18,519 --> 00:44:22,359
traffic into my stuff, you know. That's a a big problem

734
00:44:22,359 --> 00:44:25,480
beginners have and why they put them down. It's like you buy a cheap guitar

735
00:44:25,480 --> 00:44:28,415
thing, and I'll learn how to play this, but cheap guitars are hard to play

736
00:44:28,415 --> 00:44:32,095
because they're never set up, you know, properly from the factory. They're actually set

737
00:44:32,095 --> 00:44:35,940
up worse on purpose because they and then they have to do less

738
00:44:35,940 --> 00:44:39,140
work to it. So, you know, it has high action. It's, you know, hard to

739
00:44:39,140 --> 00:44:42,900
play. Ideally, you would bring that to a professional, have them set it up

740
00:44:42,900 --> 00:44:46,565
so it's easy for you to play. But, again, you're beginning, most people don't even

741
00:44:46,565 --> 00:44:49,445
know you can do that kind of stuff, you know, have that done Right. Especially

742
00:44:49,445 --> 00:44:53,089
if you're brand new to it. So, like, to have somebody say, this is a

743
00:44:53,089 --> 00:44:56,930
cheap instrument. If you're a beginner, this is how you make it play good

744
00:44:56,930 --> 00:45:00,550
enough, and then you'll want to play. If it's comfortable and easy to play,

745
00:45:00,795 --> 00:45:04,575
make all the difference, you know? And then you'll keep playing. You'll actually learn

746
00:45:04,875 --> 00:45:08,635
because for a lot of new people, like, the hurdle isn't necessarily how hard

747
00:45:08,635 --> 00:45:12,299
it is to learn how to play the instruments, how to play the

748
00:45:12,299 --> 00:45:15,900
instrument itself. And if the instrument's fighting you, like I was saying before, it shouldn't

749
00:45:15,900 --> 00:45:19,384
fight you. The thing should play itself, kind

750
00:45:19,384 --> 00:45:22,825
of. Yeah. Totally. I remember the first guitar I ever bought, and it

751
00:45:22,825 --> 00:45:26,664
was horrible. I didn't even know what action was, but the strings were,

752
00:45:26,664 --> 00:45:30,070
like, you know, an inch and a half off the fretboard. Right. Exactly. Yeah. It's

753
00:45:30,070 --> 00:45:33,350
like most people don't know that there's a truss rod in there. You can adjust

754
00:45:33,350 --> 00:45:36,425
that. They'll leave it in their car overnight. It gets cold and things move. And

755
00:45:36,425 --> 00:45:39,245
now it's like, oh, what? It got worse. How did that happen? Like

756
00:45:40,025 --> 00:45:43,485
yeah. So, like, that like, I wanna be able to give back to the community

757
00:45:43,545 --> 00:45:47,190
in that way but still, you know, do something fun, hopefully help my

758
00:45:47,190 --> 00:45:50,950
business. You know, it's it's got multiple multiple facets for

759
00:45:50,950 --> 00:45:53,935
why I wanna do something like that. And like you said, I think it's just,

760
00:45:53,935 --> 00:45:57,555
like, multipurpose. I think that's that's really special for everybody. Right.

761
00:45:58,735 --> 00:46:02,500
The reason that, like, we found out about each other is because of the hat

762
00:46:02,500 --> 00:46:06,340
you're wearing because my Yes. Friend, Josh, who I used

763
00:46:06,340 --> 00:46:08,980
to be in a band with, always used to wear that hat. And then eventually,

764
00:46:08,980 --> 00:46:11,300
I just asked him. I was like, what's CRC Guitar? Like, I never heard about

765
00:46:11,300 --> 00:46:14,135
them before. And then he told me about you, and then we eventually met at

766
00:46:14,135 --> 00:46:17,895
one of the old Tulsa shows. But Yep. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's part of it

767
00:46:17,895 --> 00:46:21,460
too is the is the the branding. You know? Right. Exactly. Yeah. I'll try get

768
00:46:21,460 --> 00:46:25,140
these out. They'll send you one. Just DM me your address later, and, I

769
00:46:25,140 --> 00:46:28,279
got, like, a whole stack of just Oh, sweetie. That'd be awesome.

770
00:46:28,819 --> 00:46:32,105
But but, yeah, I mean, like, that's that's the thing. It's just connections. Like, you

771
00:46:32,105 --> 00:46:35,705
know, I I knew Josh through my brother. Now, you know, I know you through

772
00:46:35,705 --> 00:46:39,320
Josh, and hopefully that, you know, it's just little connections like that is

773
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:43,160
what that's gonna build it. So, like, that's that's my other goal. Just keep making

774
00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:47,005
connections, and that's gonna help build absolutely everything because that's all

775
00:46:47,005 --> 00:46:50,705
this has ever been is, you know, person to person. I do better

776
00:46:50,765 --> 00:46:54,420
that than anything I've done online. Mhmm. Yeah.

777
00:46:54,420 --> 00:46:57,940
Totally. There's there's definitely, I mean, it's, I guess, a

778
00:46:57,940 --> 00:47:01,700
necessary evil maybe online stuff, but but, yeah, I'm with you there

779
00:47:01,700 --> 00:47:05,335
as, like, far as, like, human interaction is, like, way better than

780
00:47:05,735 --> 00:47:09,015
Right. I mean, you can see some of these videos online, but you're not gonna

781
00:47:09,015 --> 00:47:12,680
get, you know, the personal, you know, you're not gonna get somebody's

782
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,400
personality at that. I mean, I try to put as much of it as I

783
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:19,160
can on there, but Mhmm. It makes it's so much it's a much

784
00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:22,615
bigger, impression in person. So Mhmm.

785
00:47:22,915 --> 00:47:26,355
For sure. For sure. And then, then the last question I have for you is

786
00:47:26,355 --> 00:47:30,069
a question I like to ask everybody, is what does purpose mean to you

787
00:47:30,069 --> 00:47:33,750
and, like, define it in in your own terms? I guess, you know, music has

788
00:47:33,750 --> 00:47:37,575
been such a big part of my life forever. I mean, I

789
00:47:37,575 --> 00:47:41,415
was never good at writing it, okay enough at playing it, but

790
00:47:41,415 --> 00:47:45,095
just keeping it at the forefront. I knew it was always something I needed to

791
00:47:45,095 --> 00:47:48,930
be involved with. So, like, if you know what you need to

792
00:47:48,930 --> 00:47:51,890
be involved with, I don't stick with it. I mean, it's

793
00:47:53,090 --> 00:47:56,845
whoever you are as a person, I don't even know how to how to

794
00:47:56,845 --> 00:47:59,505
work with this guy. It's such a tough question.

795
00:48:01,085 --> 00:48:04,310
No. I think you you were onto something there. Like, I think the the it's

796
00:48:04,310 --> 00:48:07,990
the thing, like, that, you know, you need to be involved with because there's

797
00:48:08,070 --> 00:48:10,630
this is completely off topic and I might just lose your whole train of thought,

798
00:48:10,630 --> 00:48:14,375
but I've already lost it. It's alright. I don't even know where I was

799
00:48:14,375 --> 00:48:17,915
going. There's this guy that I

800
00:48:17,975 --> 00:48:21,589
followed for a little bit. He he had, like, YouTube videos, on, like,

801
00:48:21,589 --> 00:48:25,030
music production kind of stuff. And when I was learning how to, like,

802
00:48:25,030 --> 00:48:28,710
engineer, I would follow his stuff because I like the way that he, like, explained

803
00:48:28,710 --> 00:48:32,445
things. And he always said, like, when he was younger, he, like, loved Soundgarden.

804
00:48:32,585 --> 00:48:35,945
He loved Chris Cornell, and he wanted to be, you know, a rock star when

805
00:48:35,945 --> 00:48:38,260
he was younger. But then he got to a point where he realized he was,

806
00:48:38,260 --> 00:48:41,780
like, well, it's probably not gonna happen. Like, I'm not that great at playing music

807
00:48:41,780 --> 00:48:45,220
or writing music. But then he found he could teach people how to record music,

808
00:48:45,220 --> 00:48:48,965
and that was, like, how he kinda, like, twisted his dream of,

809
00:48:48,965 --> 00:48:52,725
like, music to be involved with music, but, like, not be a rock star.

810
00:48:52,725 --> 00:48:56,210
So it's kinda, like, I I feel like that's kinda where I was. It's like,

811
00:48:56,210 --> 00:48:59,330
yeah, maybe maybe I wasn't gonna be the rock star that I thought I was

812
00:48:59,330 --> 00:49:02,310
gonna be. You know, I wasn't gonna be playing it, but it's like music

813
00:49:03,155 --> 00:49:06,915
is who I you know, it's everything from how I

814
00:49:06,915 --> 00:49:10,570
dress to everything else I do. You know, it's it is my

815
00:49:10,570 --> 00:49:13,770
purpose, I guess. That that's what it is. But and as long as I'm involved

816
00:49:13,770 --> 00:49:17,470
in it somehow, maybe it's maybe I'm not making music, but I'm making

817
00:49:17,775 --> 00:49:21,375
the things to make the music, and it's helping other people. Also, it's like I

818
00:49:21,375 --> 00:49:24,335
may I might not be the painter, but I'm making the brushes. You know what

819
00:49:24,335 --> 00:49:27,900
I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Totally. That's, I guess

820
00:49:28,140 --> 00:49:31,660
I mean, that's what it means. I don't I still I still don't think I've

821
00:49:31,660 --> 00:49:35,385
answered the question what this purpose mean to me, but, like, that, I

822
00:49:35,385 --> 00:49:39,224
feel like, is my purpose is to something with music. You know? And as

823
00:49:39,224 --> 00:49:43,065
long as I'm involved with it somehow, I guess, that kind of it's I don't

824
00:49:43,065 --> 00:49:46,890
know. Hey. It's a good enough answer for us. As long as you're

825
00:49:46,890 --> 00:49:50,430
satisfied with that. And that's all that matters.

826
00:49:52,395 --> 00:49:55,995
Well, I, hey, I appreciate, I appreciate your honesty and,

827
00:49:55,995 --> 00:49:59,750
you know, your perspectives on everything and just

828
00:49:59,750 --> 00:50:02,950
explaining how you you think about things. I think it's I think that to me

829
00:50:02,950 --> 00:50:06,310
is helpful for me to learn even even though you may not see it. Like,

830
00:50:06,310 --> 00:50:09,335
for me, it's, like, inspiring for me to hear how you think and hear how

831
00:50:09,335 --> 00:50:12,988
you work and, like, think about things. So, yeah, I appreciate you, like, explaining

832
00:50:12,988 --> 00:50:16,641
everything for us. Yeah. No problem. Thanks. Yeah. And then, just last thing, like,

833
00:50:16,641 --> 00:50:20,460
where can people find you online if they wanna follow you? I'm CRC

834
00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:24,300
Guitars on just about everything. Instagram, it's CRC underscore

835
00:50:24,440 --> 00:50:27,900
guitars. On Facebook, CRC Guitars. There is another

836
00:50:28,085 --> 00:50:31,385
guy on Facebook called CRC Guitars, but it's like CRC

837
00:50:31,925 --> 00:50:34,825
Academy or something like that. I'm not that guy.

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00:50:36,630 --> 00:50:38,390
I'll make sure to find the right link, and then I'll put them in the

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00:50:38,390 --> 00:50:42,230
show notes so people can just do the clicking. Again, thanks thanks so much for

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00:50:42,230 --> 00:50:45,930
your time. And, good luck with, if everything with CRC guitars.

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00:50:46,055 --> 00:50:49,575
Thanks. Thank you for listening to

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00:50:49,575 --> 00:50:53,335
Working Towards Our Purpose. If you liked today's episode and are interested

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00:50:53,335 --> 00:50:56,890
in more, you can sign up for my Substack newsletter with the link in the

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00:50:56,890 --> 00:51:00,570
show notes, where I share thoughts, tips, and ideas that I'm

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00:51:00,570 --> 00:51:04,234
learning along my journey to help inspire you. The show was

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00:51:04,234 --> 00:51:05,934
produced by Pleasant Podcast atpleasantpodcast.com.