Welcome to Working Towards Our Purpose, a podcast that
offers a different perspective on what a job can be. For everyone
out there that's heard that voice in the back of their head asking for
something more, it's time to listen to it. I'm your host,
Gino, and join me as I interview people who have decided to
work in their own purpose. Together, we will learn, become
inspired, and hopefully find our own path towards working in our
purpose. Corey
Reynolds is the founder and owner of CRC Guitars. He's a
woodworker by day and a custom guitar builder by night. And as a fellow
guitar player, I'm really looking forward to getting to talk guitars. Corey, welcome to Working
Towards Your Purpose. Purpose you doing today? Good. How are you? Thanks for having.
Doing well. Doing well. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to getting to
talk guitars a little bit later on. But first, if you could just kinda, like,
tell us who you are, you know, where you grew up, and what kind of
schooling you had, and that sort of thing, interest as a kid maybe. Oh, yeah.
Well, from the beginning, I was actually homeschooled. I
have, like, 0 formal education. And, but, you
know, building things has always been a passion of mine. Didn't matter what
it was. Legos, you know, just started there. But, yeah, grew
up in Connecticut, Northeastern Connecticut. Been playing music
in for, I don't know, 20 something years, building
things. That's kinda it. I mean,
you know? Nice. What was homeschooling like? I I don't know that
I know anybody that's been, like, homeschooled before. I feel like it could go both
ways. It could be either, like, cool because you can have flexibility around
your schedule or it could be, like, awful.
It was interesting. It was a little weird, I guess. I don't know. I mean,
I did whatever I wanted pretty much all the time. So, you know, I was
out in the woods building forts or, you know, building dirt bike jumps
and things like that, bicycle jumps. But, yeah, did my school work
in the morning and got it out of the way and then just did whatever
I wanted for the rest of the day. So it was kinda nice. I mean,
it's a little, I have 3 other siblings, so wasn't exactly
lonely. Mhmm. You know? But it was it was different.
But, I don't know. It's it's quiet and sheltered, I I suppose.
But, yeah, flexibility. We we were always going places and doing things. You know?
So it was it was interesting, but I don't have much to compare it
to. Yeah. Sure. That's that's definitely a good point.
So, like, once you finished your schooling, did you, like, finish on time with,
like, a normal person who would graduate high school? I finished a little
early, actually, and then just started working full time,
like, from the age of 16, more or less. A family friend at
a construction company that gave me a job because, you know, I had to build
something. Mhmm. So I started working for them, learned as much as I
could. You know, we just we built houses, did everything from
the ground up, everything in between, you know, electrical, plumbing. It was pretty great. So
I learned all kinds of things. So but, you know, that's just what I like
to do. I like to learn things, build things, create, and it was, you know,
it was a a great starting point to do
anything, really. That's awesome. That makes me ask a
question. When you are being homeschooled, do you get to choose kinda like
what you're interested in? Because I mean, certainly, the downside of, like,
traditional schooling is, like, you have to do this, and you have to do this
for a set amount of time, and then we don't care about what you're interested
in. Kind of. I mean, at at the time, because this
is, you know, more than 20 something years ago. You know, it's
a long time ago at this point. It wasn't super structured
because the the state actually wasn't involved so much.
Like, now it's a little different. It's changed. You're gonna go through programs and whatever.
So my mother was in charge of the curriculum, whatever she felt like
teaching, so which was kinda nice. You know, it's like, oh, you don't need to
learn that, but this is important. So we focused on more important things, I
suppose. But it was it was less structured and more, you know
Yeah. This is what you really need to know. Got that out of the way
and then, you know, did whatever I wanted after that. Yeah.
No. That's that's so cool. It's, very interesting. I'm sure it completely
changes, like, your perception on what you find important and giving you
probably more voice of, like, doing the things that you care about versus just,
like, what you're supposed to be doing. Right. Yep. So when you first got
into, like, working, you said you work you started work pretty early. Did you ever
think about, like, going to further schooling? Or Not
really. I mean, that was kind of one of those
things, like, oh, I was homeschooled. I got the education I needed. I already knew
what I wanted to do at that point, so I didn't want to go into
college getting any further education. It didn't feel necessary at the
time, you know, because I was like, I already want to build things. I wanna
build houses. That's what I wanted to get into, but I don't do that anymore.
But I already had an idea of where I want to go. I was like,
I don't don't need that. It was kind of a different, perspective,
I suppose. And I in a way, I almost regret it, but not not really.
I'm doing pretty well. I'm where I wanna be as far as where
I'm at currently, almost. Yeah. Yeah.
Cool. So you started to build, like, houses and stuff for,
a family friend's company. How long did you do that for?
That was let's see. It wasn't too long. It was maybe, like,
5 years that I worked for them, then I ended up getting married and moving
away, working for another relative in a construction
company for about a year. But then I ended up getting completely
out of construction altogether at that point. That was around
2008 when, like, the the the recession
started. Like, there was no construction work to be had anyway. So I ended up
getting a job that I ended up hating. That's actually kinda how it got me
into guitars. Oh, interesting. Very roundabout way.
Mhmm. Do do explain more. So so, yeah, I
started working for a cleaning company specialized in the
kitchen exhaust system cleaning, which is dirty
and disgusting. And just it was it was a job, and
it I I was there for 8 years. So, I mean,
we paid the bills, but it was just, you know, it was the same thing
every day. It was very repetitive. It wasn't scratching
my creative itch, you know, just like, oh, it's dirty again. Go clean it
again. Whatever. But they they did other things like floors and all kinds of, like,
janitorial style cleaning. But at some point, I was just like, this is
I hate this, you know? It's very unfulfilling.
And, at that point, I had moved away from where I grew up.
So I was, at the time, playing in a band with my brother and friend.
I'd moved away from that, so I wasn't playing any. So and I wasn't doing
anything creative, and I kinda realized that all at the same time.
So I was like, I need to do something creative,
but I also wanna play music. And then it just kinda clicked one day. I
should build guitars. It was it was
kind of strange. Like, I wanted an electric guitar. I couldn't afford 1. It's like,
I should just build 1, and that's not cheaper than just buying
1 car. Found that out very fast.
But but I I kinda just wanted to do it anyways, So I started
building 1 just to, you know, do something creative
and then be able to play it later. That one's still unplayable.
But, like, that's kinda how it started. Like, it wasn't playing music. I
wasn't doing anything and just kinda came
together. And it just it made sense, so I just started building
1. Do you remember and and maybe not. But
do you remember, like, a a thing that, like, triggered that thought to be like,
wait a minute. What am I doing here? I'm not doing any of these things
that I enjoy doing. It was just that I wanted to
be play. I don't really I mean, this is over 10 years ago that that
happened, but I just didn't I wanted to do something. I knew I wanted to
be building something. I wanted to get back in construction or something like that, but
that this wasn't gonna happen at the time. But I also wanted
to be playing in a band or just playing music in general. It just at
the I was just kinda I don't wanna say depressed, but just, you know, just
hated what I was doing for work and just trying to scratch the itch of,
you know, creating something. And it just it
all just kinda clicked one day, like, just build one. It
was never my intention to, like, start a business and, you know, build
them all the time. But I enjoyed the process of it so much.
I had to learn everything about it. I just, like, dove head first into it.
That's unfortunately how I am with everything. It's like, oh, I I'm gonna learn this?
Well, I'm gonna learn all of it. Mhmm. But that's that's probably my
ADHD a little bit. Yeah. No. And well, someone said that that's a a
good skill to be, like, focused enough in on it to do it. I think
that's a, that's a positive skill for sure. Yeah. I tend to hyper focus
on this thing and just go for it and I had to learn it
all. Yeah. And I'm certainly familiar with the feeling of like,
you know, doing something for a long period of time and, like, finally
realizing that like, oh, this is not what I wanna be doing at all. So
I Right. You said, like, almost depression. For me, it was almost
some of that, but, like, also, like, just an asleep sort of thing, like, so
much time goes by, and you're like, what am I doing? I don't even remember
what I had changed the last, like, 5 years. It's like so yeah. That's
exactly it's like it's like 8 years doing same thing constantly.
It's it was so monotonous. You're just in a groove just
going. It's like yeah. It's just like going to an office. It's the same thing,
except for I was just at different restaurants every other day. Yeah. You
know? So it was just it was annoying. I know where to eat, though, and
I know where not to eat. For sure. More importantly, where not to
eat. When you see behind the scenes everywhere, it's a little scary.
Mhmm. For sure. So yeah. So talk to me about
music too. Like, when did you first get into music and, like, what part is
music played in your life? Yeah. I mean, music music is, like, is
a huge part of my life. It's probably one of the most important
things to me. I think I started playing, I don't remember
exactly, I was like 12 or 13. My younger brother and I both
started taking lessons at the same time. I actually started on bass. That's
mostly what I play. I'm not very good at anything,
but, we we started playing together. He's a little bit
younger than me. He's, like, 2 years younger than me, but we were taking lessons
simultaneously. He was playing guitar. I was playing bass. It just made
sense that one of us picked one of those instruments. You know? Mhmm.
And because we were learning at the same time, we were learning at the same
pace and learning the same songs, stuff like that, and it just, you know, progressed
like that. We played very well together because of that, I think. So
we're fairly young listening to stuff like Led Zeppelin and learning all of
those songs and whatever. And few years later, he's still one
of my best friends. He's a drummer, and we just started playing together doing
that. This is, you know, 2,004
ish, so right in the middle of the emo screamo.
Mhmm. Boom. So that's kind of the stuff we were playing at the time too.
So but, yeah, like, we we started playing very young.
Music was a huge deal. I was just actually talking about this the
other day, about Led Zeppelin. My brother, we had taken stolen
all our dad's old tapes, and he had a copy of physical graffiti.
And for an entire summer, he just played that every night before bed. We had
shared a room too. So it's like, that album has burned into my brain at
this point. It's like, you know, it started there
and just, you know, progressed. And we're always playing stuff, you
know, within the the rock or punk or or, you know, metal
type vein, I guess. Yeah. No. I'm I'm kinda
similar in that way where me and my brother I have a twin brother, and
me and him both kinda, like, picked up guitar at the same time. And, like,
I know what you mean by, like, we didn't really, like, took lessons together, but,
eventually, we started playing together once we were, like, I guess, competent enough to
be able to do that. Yeah. But then we, like I feel like
it's easier for us to just, like, kinda play with each other. Eventually, he picked
up drums and, like, we would go back and forth with them. So, yeah, it's
a music's kind of a cool thing. For me, it was super important, like,
you know, in middle school and that sort of stuff. I really got into, like,
metal and it being, like, super expressive and that sort of thing. So, yeah,
music's always been super cool and important to me as well.
So what what got you, like, eventually into woodworking?
And, like, was it guitar that got you to, like, do more, like,
fun? It was actually yeah. Building guitars is what got me the job
I currently have because I I still have zero formal training in
woodworking because, you know, I was doing carpentry before, and those those
are not the same thing. Woodworking and carpentry are completely
different. But, you know, I started building guitars, but it's like I had to learn
so many other woodworking things. Like, I figured, oh, I know how to do that.
I can use saws and things, but it's so wildly different, you
know, building a house versus furniture or whatever.
But, I was started making these guitars, and, my wife's
uncle, who I had actually worked for for that that one year, like, in
2007, 2008, He had gotten a job in a woodshop
not too far from here. He was telling me about it. I'm still working for
that cleaning company. Like, if they ever have any openings, let me know. And he's
like, I mean, they'll see what I can do. Like, a few months after
that, he he was like, yeah. 1 of these one of these guys is, like,
leaving. He's moving across country or whatever, so we're gonna have an opening. So I
immediately called the guy that owned the business and said, like, yeah, you can
come in for an interview. And I went in the interview. He's like, well, you
know, you don't have the skill set we're looking for or whatever. But, you know,
thanks for coming in, basically. Okay. Whatever. Like, I had shown them
pictures of the stuff I had built. I was like, it looks nice, but, you
know, we're looking for somebody who has, you know, formal training in this. Okay.
Whatever. Fine. I understood that. And then, like, a month later, they were,
like, desperate for somebody. He's like, he just was gonna hire me just to be
there, basically. And, I just I learned everything
I possibly could. That's what I did. You know? I was like, if I'm gonna
do this, I'm gonna learn everything I can about woodwork. You know? And
I I'm kinda running the shop now. Nice. Don't wanna
brag. I'm I'm not, but you know.
What kind of stuff, are they making? They make,
garden structures. So anything outside, like, mostly trellises.
We do, a lot of custom pergolas, like bigger, you know,
fences, gates, arbors. Anything that would go in a garden outside, that's
what we do. We do a lot of commercial projects. So,
like, really big ones that are going to apartment complexes in Boston. We've
done a lot in, Manhattan, like rooftop stuff,
lots of crazy stuff like that. But it's it's relatively high end
for what it is. So but that's what we do. Nice. Is it a
smaller type of company, or is it a bigger Yeah. Currently, there's, like, 5
employees on the shop floor, so fairly small yet.
But, I mean, it's a little slow at the moment, but, you know, it usually
is during the winter. Most people aren't thinking about their gardens or anything
like that or yards this time of year. Sure. Sure.
So tell me about, like, what the first guitar was that you ever built because
you said, like, you've quickly found out that it's not the same skills, and I
imagine a lot of it has to do with precision. There's a lot of
precision. The first one I built was made out of plywood. It's still hanging in
my shop right now in a place where it's like, if I'm ever feeling, like,
not that good at this, it's like it's right there. Like, that's how far I've
come. It's right there. Nice. But I bit off more than I could chew
with that one. So but, like, I wasn't exactly precise. I didn't have the
tools to do it. I just kinda, like, hacked it away with whatever I had
and just kept borrowing things from other people. But,
yeah, it's, I I tried to paint it, like,
professionally in my basement, which didn't work out so well either. But,
yeah. It's I I bought most of the things. Like, I bought it next because
I figured, oh, that's that's difficult. There's no way I'm gonna figure that out. You
know? You have you have to be extremely precise with all the measurements on, you
know, your fretboard or whatever for to put the frets on. And I was like,
there's no way I'm gonna do that first off. And that was fine, but just
like, nothing lined up right. I was just straightening out. I'm not selling
myself very good right now, but No. It's a it's a learning
process. I think that's that's the cool part about it is that, like, you start
from somewhere, but then the fact that you don't give up and then you learn
how to figure it out like that, that to me is inspiring. Like, I'm I'm
inspired listening. Once I got it together and I realized, oh, this is never
gonna happen, I immediately started on another one. Like, I knew where I screwed
up on most of it, so immediately started on the next one.
As far as I know, that one's still playable. I wanted to build 1, but
I was like, I don't have the money to just go buying parts all the
time. So a friend of mine, he's like, I will give you the
money. Well, the deal was like, I will build you whatever you want. Just,
like, pay for the parts, and you don't have to pay for any of the
labor. I'll just build it. And so it did. And as far as I know,
it's still playable. He hasn't called me to be like, hey, man. This thing fell
apart. So but, like, that was the second one
I did. And, like, halfway through the second one, I was I decided to
start another one, like, during that project because I was enjoying
the process so much. It's like, I guess I gotta keep going because I still
hadn't built one for myself yet. I'm building a second one, but now that's
for somebody else. But I the whole point of that was to build myself one.
So so I started on the other one. And then I was working on those,
like, simultaneously. And, that one's
still in my basement and not playable. But, again, I bought another
neck, you know, online. That was that was the my mistake. And
at that point, I realized, like, you know what? I can't keep buying these necks.
And it's either you spend way too much money, you know, going to, like,
Ormuth or whatever buying theirs or just build it myself.
And at that point, no, I I still hadn't gotten that woodworking job
yet. This is, you know, 10 years ago at this point, so the timeline's
a little sketchy, a little fuzzy.
But, yeah, I decided at that point how hard could it be, you
know? I could just build I could do it. It's not it can't be that
bad. And at this point, I'm, you know, compiling more and more
specific tools to do it properly and just
constantly researching how to do all of the stuff. And I have to
try to remember which one is the next one in that series
because it I again, I keep biting off more than I can chew every
single time because I'm just like, well, I should do this and do that. Let's
keep adding features that just I should've kept it simple, but I never did.
And that actually helped me learn more because I just needed to
dive in and just go for it. So it might have been
I it might have been the 27 strings that I've built, which are both still,
they came out really well. They're both still very playable. People have them. So
I still haven't built one for myself to keep you active.
Wow. That's interesting. Yeah. So, basically,
you've kinda just built them. And then as you're building them, other people are like,
hey. Can you make me one? Hey, can you make me one? And this is
a good iterative process. It just keeps happening. Yeah. Interesting. It
just kept happening. They're like, oh, I love that. Can I have it? Like, yeah.
Sure. Whatever. Keeps telling to purpose,
which which works out right now. Yeah. Yeah. I I do
wanna ask you too about, like, the, I guess, attitude or mentality
of, like, kinda, like, believing in yourself more than, like, the things that
you're seeing. Because, like, for example, the necks you buying a neck and it, like,
is garbage or doesn't work or something. You're like, I'll just build it myself. I
I'll probably figure out how to do it better than that. Like, do you know
where that kinda mentality comes from? Because I get I mean, there's certainly people who,
like, have the opposite mentality of, like, oh, I could never do that. That's way
too difficult. I can't do that. That's just kind
of how I've always been. Like, I would just like, I can do that. I
can do it. Why why why not try it? The worst thing that can
happen is you're gonna either fail and then try again or,
you know, maybe it'll work out. But I don't know. It's just I've always kinda
just thought, you know, I can do it. If other people can do it, I
could probably figure this out. You know, it can't be that hard.
It's more about having the right tools and
things. And that may those tools may be inside you, not
physical, like, saws or whatever. You know what I mean? Just
Mhmm. Other people do this all the time, so it can't be that hard.
Everything's possible as long as you set your mind to it. You know, just
set your mind to it. Just go for it. Mhmm. I feel like I should
have better words for that, but it's just I've been listening to another podcast for
a while. It's just, you know, 2 guitar builders talking about their
processes. And that's, like, one of the things he said because
garage for years. Like, if I can do this because he had a corporate
job. Like, he had no woodworking experience
at all, and he was like an accountant or something like that. And he
was he was building guitars in his garage. And he's like, if I can do
this, anybody can do this. It's not that difficult. Just, you know,
take your time. Be careful. You know? Just measure
6 times and cut once. It's wrong anyways
and do it again. Yeah. That
that's awesome. You also let me know what, the name of that podcast is. That
sounds really It's unfortunately no longer happening anymore, but I think
it's it's archived online, but I can send it to you because it's
still very interesting. Yeah. For sure.
But, yeah, no. That does that does speak to there's kinda like the belief that
anything really is possible if you put enough. If you really want it bad enough,
I feel like any anything really is possible. If you wanna, you
know, plague is hard. It's not that hard. Sure. It's it's difficult at first, and,
you know, your fingers will hurt. And it's like you'll you'll come up with
some kind of hurdle, and you'll come up with an excuse. If you're if you
want to have an excuse, you'll come up with an excuse. But if you want
to get it done, you'll find a way to get it done. That's kind of
the attitude I bring to it. And it's like that's why I keep my first
guitar hanging up there just to remind myself, like, you can do it.
Look how far you've come. Like, keep something there that reminds
you that you can do it. You can do just about anything.
Mhmm. Yeah. I like that a lot. Especially, it's relatable for, like, people,
like, who wanna learn how to play guitar. So many people have said to me,
like, oh, that's cool. You could play guitar, but I could, like, never figure like,
I can't learn how to do that. And I'm always like, well, it's like, I
didn't know how to do it either. Like, it's just you just do it a
couple of times and, like, get better and better at it. And you just gotta,
like, want to be able to do it bad enough. Right. Dedicate the
time, the time and persistence, and just surround
yourself with people that do the things you want. Surround yourself with
musicians. Surround yourself with other people that build things.
Learn from them, and then the motivation will be there.
Yeah. Totally. That's another big part of it, I think, too. And a big part
that I found, like, within, like, business or, like, entrepreneurs,
meeting other people that are doing those similar things. And then, you know, because
then it helps you kinda get through the more difficult times because it's like, oh,
I'm I'm not the only one who's struggling with this thing. Like, this guy's also
struggling with it, and he can or she can almost help you get
through it if they've been there before. So community has been, like, a big aspect
for me and my personal growth. Right. It's very important. Yeah.
So you mentioned that, like, you kinda just been building kind of per
request on, like, what people want. Have you ever had
to go out and, like, try to sell your guitars, like, market
your business or, like I haven't yet. I'm still kind of
in the the beginning stages of the business side of it, really. It's I'm still
it's still it's still basically a passion project right now. You know? Like, I
do this in my spare time. Eventually, that's the goal is to go
full time, and I'm getting closer all the time. You know? I have
big plans hopefully for later this year. But,
it's it's we're getting closer all the time to, like, just jumping full
time into this. It's just getting the word out there, getting more, you know,
exposure. I try to get out there, you know, bring stuff to shows, put
it in people's faces as much as possible. I just wanna get them in people's
hands, but, you know, we're getting there.
Yeah. I imagine part of it too is like, if you're the one
kind of doing all the work there's at some point, like a cap of like
how much you can actually physically build. Right. That's the thing. And
that's that's my big plan for this this coming year because, I
mean, doing it in my spare time, you know, with full time job with a
family, you know, kids, dogs, all that, I don't have as much time as
I'd like to be able to to, devote to it. But the next
step is to get a CNC and make that do most of the work,
you know? So that's gonna be a whole another learning curve. Now I gotta learn,
you know, software. But if I can get that to do 90% of the
work in a couple hours versus, you know, days of
me spending little bits time here and there,
then I can, you know, batch them out quicker and get
things done. The faster I could build them, the better, really. I
mean Yeah. Totally. So when you design, like, a body of
a guitar now, are you, like, hand sketching it out and, like, hand measuring it?
Yeah. I draw them out full scale because you can draw it out,
get it smaller, whatever. You draw it on a computer, but for me, it
just it doesn't translate as well. And so once you can draw it
out full scale and really get a feel for it, it makes such a big
difference. And even after I've drawn it, like, I
have to cut it out of something and then, like, actually be able to see
what it looks like. Put a strap on it, like, hold it onto your
body and be like, this is kind of what it should feel like. You
know? But the design process, you'd think it'd be pretty
simple and straightforward, but it you know, you change little lines here and
there just because it doesn't look right. But, yeah, I draw them out full scale,
measure everything out, and that seems to help.
But even then, I've drawn out things full scale and, like, I hate this
until I cut it out. And then it's, like, just a little tweak here and
there, and then it's not so bad. Yeah. No. That's gotta be, like,
a interesting process to, like, go back and forth. Because, I mean, there's, like, your
traditional guitar shapes, but you don't really make or may or I
haven't seen at least on on social media is, like, your body shapes are, like,
very interesting, and they kinda, like, stand out to me. Yeah. There's
there's only so much you can do within that, you know, the framework. I mean,
you have a neck and the strings and the bridge, and it's like, you can
only go so far without it looking really weird. Right. You
know? So it's like, you can you can go weird and there are people that
do that or, you know, there's only so much you can do that it just
looks like a guitar that you know, it has it has to
fall within a certain range to be comfortable and
playable and not look awful, but, you know, still have
some of your own personality in there as far as design. There's there's
only so much you can really do. So it's like, yeah, I have I have
one that's kinda like a scratch shape and Telly and Les Paul,
but they're not like those at the same time. You know?
Mhmm. One of my focuses on that is to, you know, to
be ergonomic, As playable as possible. Like, take
I have one that's, you know, Les Paul shaped, but it doesn't
feel like that because it's like I I hate playing Les Pauls. They're one of
my favorite to look at, but, you know, they have their issues. You know, they
they're always, like, falling off your lap if you're, you know, sitting down or whatever.
So I tried to balance it better, get more, you know, higher fret
access and make it more comfortable just to get rid of all of its issues,
but kinda some of the look. That was kind of my idea. It's like it
shouldn't be fighting. It should be it should be as easy to play as
possible, but has to look great too. You know? If If it doesn't look good,
you're not gonna pick it up. So looks are extremely important, but playability
is, you know, the most important. Mhmm.
Totally. And so do you have, like, a couple different, like, models that you
continually make, or do you always make Yeah. A different shape? My idea when I
started to do this was, like, ah, just making custom and do whatever I want
all the time. But then that that gets very, very
difficult to do because then you're always designing something or leaving it up to
to the customer, and things can get a little weird then. Not that there's anything
wrong with that. But, but, yeah, I I I designed a few things,
and those are, like, my my standard custom shapes that are, you
know, mine that like, if you wanna do whatever within that
that framework, we can do that. You know, I can make it an 8 string
if you want or, you know, change whatever bridge. That's
where the custom aspect comes in. It's like, this is my shape. Well, whatever you
wanna do within that, we can do that and make it
happen. So, like, every detail is, you know, up to you,
basically. Is it much more difficult to make, like,
a 8 string or 7 string guitar versus a 6 string? Not really. It's all
pretty much the same. It's very straightforward. It's just more
wood. Yeah. More wood, more
strings. Pretty much. It's it's yeah. It's all basically the same
thing. You know, you start with a center line, work from there, and that's it.
Just adding or taking away something. That's that's all woodworking
is is starting with wood and subtracting.
Interesting. So what, what do you think it's been like the most
challenging thing as far as like learning how to make a guitar?
Passion. Passion. Yeah. You get it to a point and you're
just like, I wanna put this together, but you still have, you know, a lot
of sanding or painting the worst parts. You know?
Patience, you know? Just take your time. Make it make it
right. Do it right the first time. You don't have to do it again. So
passion, that's probably been the hardest thing. And I am not a patient
person because of, you know, many reasons.
Mhmm. I have been checking out, like, your social media stuff, and I noticed that,
like, you know, you make you do a good job making reels when you can,
and, I did notice that one of them seemed to quote
unquote go viral. I was wondering, if
that, like, had any, positive effects come from it.
No. I mean, yeah. I think I know which one you're that was the one
where I was pulling that giant thing out of my basement. Right? Yeah. The big
piece of wood, the knot. Was I think it had, like, over a It had
a it had a 1,000,000 over a 1000000 views out of hold on. I found
it. Wait. Let me just confirm how many. So it
has 1,300,000, which was, like, which mind blowing.
Most of my videos are, like, 2, 300 views.
And, like, that one has nothing to do with guitar building. But,
Yeah. I mean, I got quite a few followers out of that,
actually, but not not as many as I was hoping. But, you know, a
decent amount either way. But, yeah,
that that that piece of wood is actually being turned into a base right now
for my son. So Oh, nice. Or at least a part of it. That was
a really big piece of wood. Yeah.
Nice. And because of the, like, it was kind of a knot. Right? So is
It's a burl. Yeah. A burl. Okay. And that kinda gives you the
nice, like, tops that you find on the tops? It'll give you all that, like,
curly stuff. A burl, I mean, you wanna get into the
the science and whatever, it's it's basically, it's a disease
on the tree, and it's a growth, almost like a cancer, and they kinda
grow off the side of it. But the wood gets all very twisted and
the grains just kinda just twist around and stuff like that.
And, they look really pretty when you slice them nice and flat Interesting.
Which way you slice them. So what's the difference between, like, that and,
like, a flamed maple top where it's you've got, like, the straight lines? Well,
that that's actually, like, stretch marks. So, like, the tree has been,
like, flexing and things like that, and you'll get, like, those little stretches in it.
And then you slice it out of that. So, basically, the grain is
actually wider and more open in the in certain areas and and tighter in other
ones, and that's why you get those. And quilted maples, I'm not really
sure how that one works, but it's it's similar, but it's
more curled around, things like that. But
interesting. Is that something that, like, you can get more into, like,
once you've figured out how to make guitars is like putting like nice tops on
them and stuff like that? Like, I mean, that's easy enough. It's just if you
wanna spend the money, because those things are very expensive. Okay. When you see
those on guitars, like go to the store, see them. They're usually very, very thin
veneers. They're not, like, full tops unless you're spending a lot of
money if you go to, like, I don't know, PRS. Most of those, they're they're
thick full tops, but you're you're paying a premium for them. But,
you know, 90% of the time, they're just sliced so thin that they can
get as many out of them as possible. But yeah. I mean, I've done a
couple of flame tops, and, they're just
expensive. Yeah. I I tend not to do them just because it's
cheaper. Sure. Depends on what the customer wants to
pay for, really. Mhmm. Right. Right. And so what's the the
process like with, like, getting a new customer? I imagine convincing them
first to, like, buy the guitar and then, like Yeah. Well, I mean how is
the design process? I've had it go a couple of different ways. Like, I I'll
sometimes just get this out of the way real quick. Like, you know, I'll build
a spec build just like something I felt like building and then put it out
there, like, hey. It's for sale. And people are like, yeah. I'll I'll take that.
That's great. But, yeah, the process usually is somebody will
come to me and be like, hey, I really like your work, and I kinda
want something like this. But then, you know, it's just like go down the
list of everything. The average guitarist doesn't think about all of those details.
They're just like, I want a purple guitar. Okay? But
do you want, you know, this fretboard would be how many frets? You know, what
do you want for a bridge? And they're like, oh, I didn't think of any
of that. So it's just me asking,
like, so many questions. I need to, like, come up with a form and put
it on the website and just, you know, just check all that stuff off, man.
But, yeah, it's just it's just a lot of questions and,
like, every little detail. And the more you can provide me with
details, the better. But, I've also had people like, I just want kinda
this and you just run with it. Just go for it. Whatever you think. And
it kinda needs to be this color ish. So whatever you
think. And that can be difficult because now it's all up to me, and now
I gotta make all these decisions. But and then it's like, oh, I hope they
like it. But when it's a spec build, then I'm just doing whatever I want.
It's simpler. But, you know, I did have one like that a little while
ago where they just gave me basically free reign. It's like, it's a
friend of mine that I've known for 20 something years. He's good friends. I need
did you know the band Paris? They're from they're from, like,
Boston, Lowell area. Okay. And they all live in
London now. But my friend, he grew up with them. He's like, I I
wanna get this guitar. I want you to build a guitar for my friend as
a gift. So, like, he just had me build this. Like, he's just left handed,
and that's all I had to go with. Like, well,
it's like, just give me as much information on the guitar as he already owns,
and then we'll build something completely opposite. And that's what we
did. I was like, I think it should be like this color.
So we went with a random blue, but it was. It was completely different
than anything else he's had. So and I'm still waiting to
go to one of their concerts and watch them play it. So Nice. Yeah. I
think I saw that video on, Instagram because he his friend, like,
surprised him with it, and Yeah. He, like, had a video and, like, yeah, that
was that was a really cool moment. That must have been cool to, like, you
know, see him, like, witness it for the first time and be, like, completely blown
away by how cool it was. Yeah. That's that's my favorite part of building,
actually, is, it's not necessarily the build process. It's it's
like seeing customer's face, like, when they they get to see
it for the first time is, that's gotta be, from
their perspective, such a weird experience. Like, if you wanted to buy a guitar
and walked into, you know, a music shop right now, you're gonna get to pick
it up and play it. But if you want to buy one for me, you're
not gonna get to touch that thing until it's done. So,
hopefully, you like it. So it's kind of nerve racking for me, but, like, also
weird for the customer. But I haven't been on that end of the experience.
May maybe one day. Yeah. Maybe someday. Maybe I'll get somebody to build me something
so I can actually keep one for myself. Yeah. And then I'll surprise myself
with it. But, yeah,
watching people play them on stage is my probably my favorite part of the whole
process because it's it's, I liken it to, like, watching
your kid play sports or something. Like, that's my kid playing football, but that's
my kid on stage, you know, being played. Some weird
analogy, but I suppose but it's, you know, it's kind of the same thing, which
is also nerve wracking. Like, I hope nothing bad happens with it while they're playing.
Right. That's, that's interesting. So I I would think that, like,
guitars are kinda, like, maybe a similar way. I don't I don't know if this
is a good analogy, but, like, in fashion, for example, like, when somebody's, like, wearing
your thing at some famous event, they're, like then you kinda get
known. His guitar's got the same way, like, if you get a guitarist that's in,
like, a pretty famous band to play a guitar, and then all his famous
guitarist friends are like, oh, what's that? That's that's what I'm hoping for because it's
like you're not gonna get that from the audience. Like, they're gonna play guitar on
stage, and 90% of the people there who watch him aren't, you
know, musicians, so they don't care what he's playing. You know? You gotta get the
nerdy guy that's, what's that? You know, trying to loop his pedalboard. That that guy.
Yeah. That's that's me. But yeah. Me too. But,
yeah, I'll see a weird guitar like, oh, what is what is that? It's looks
like this, but it's can't see. I'm blind. But,
yeah, I think it's like getting it into their hands and getting their friends to
see it, like getting their tech, you know, to see it and, you know, getting
those those are the people that I really want, you know, to getting their hands
on it. So getting it to the guy from Paris, like, that's a big deal
for me. In December, I had a guitar that I built.
I had built it for somebody, but, unfortunately, they had they couldn't, you know, they
had to back out on the deal, which is fine. But I just had it.
I kept trying to sell it. It was kind of, it was, like, multi scale
and kinda weird. Like, the average person is, like, was a little probably much for
them, but I was just hanging on to it. I gotta get rid of this
thing. Then I was just like, I should just give it to somebody at this
point. So I was seeing one of my favorite bands. I was like, you know
what? I'm gonna give it to them. So I was the weird guy after the
show out, like, the sidewalk. I was waiting for them to come out while they
were unloading. Like, hey. I have a guitar for you. Like, what?
That's awesome. What band was it? Rivers of Nile. Oh,
cool. Cool. That's awesome. So I'm wearing their shirt. Yeah.
Yeah. So did they take it and, like, play it or give you any feedback
or anything? I haven't heard from them yet because I, like, I didn't wanna be
that guy where, like, here, I'm giving you a guitar, you know, let me know,
you know, whatever, follow me on Instagram. Like, I gave it to
them and trying not to be the weird guy that's, you know, stalkers. But, like,
look, I just want to give you this to you just because, you know, you've
given me a lot of music that I enjoyed, and I want you to have
something. And, just take it. I don't want anything back from you. So I haven't
heard from them. They might have taken that too seriously.
But, I mean, I know they have it, so whatever. It's it's all good. But,
like, they're they're, like, one of the they're they're
not, like, super famous yet. They're still, like, coming up. They have, like, 4
albums, but they're not huge yet. So, like, I talked to their
singer who's also their bassist, and I'm giving him the guitar. I was kinda
hoping to talk to the guitar player because now I feel bad that I'm not
giving him the bass. But, he was, like, kinda
surprised, like, just wanna give us a guitar. Well,
yeah. Yeah. That's here. This is for you. And, like, I
I assume he was, like, what is this? Just like some kit guitar piece of
crap? Like, he didn't say that. That's just like that was me automatically
assuming they're thinking this is some crazy person with some piece of crap that he
built. You know, I'd pulled it out and show it to him. He's kinda blown
away by the whole situation. Like, wow. For real? You're just
gonna give this to us? Like, yeah. Take it.
Enjoy it. I just want somebody to play it because it's not doing me any
good sitting in my house going nowhere. You know? Like, I don't have time to
play it. That's the one that I could've kept for myself,
but but yeah. Like, just getting it into somebody's hands.
So, like, hopefully, that that goes somewhere maybe. And I told
told him, like, maybe I'll build you a base now. So now I have plans
to build a base for him, but he doesn't know about it yet. He'll never
listen to this probably. I'll DM it to
him. Yeah. I don't know.
That's funny. I'm still not that crazy.
That'd be cool. If one day you see him planning on stage though. That would
be, that would be pretty great. Yeah. So Mhmm. That's the goal someday, get more
famous people to play them. So So,
as we're kinda coming to the end of our time here, I I do like
to ask, like, what's the future of you know, what what's the
future of the company or the business or or what you wanna do, because I
do think there's power in, like, you know, envisioning what you want to become.
So so where's the future of CRC Guitars? So, like like I
said, I have big plans for this year. Get a get a CNC machine,
start, you know, pumping these things out. And, the goal has
always been, you know, quit my job and just do this full time, you know,
get a separate shop away from my house or maybe, you know, at
least not inside the house. And just, you know, be able to do
this full time would be amazing. You know? That's that's
the goal. That's the plan. And the sooner, the better. But I'm always just
I'm always making little steps going towards that. So I
don't know if you saw, Instagram or whatever the other day. One of my
ideas for the future, I wanna start a YouTube channel,
which I want to be able to point to my stuff. But, like, the whole
idea of it is to be able to help other people.
Because, I mean, not everybody most guitarists are broke as it is.
They're not gonna be able to afford a, a custom instrument. You know, we're talking
1,000 of dollars. But, you know, you wanna go buy something cheap,
but cheap guitars always suck. Right? They always have something. Right. You could go
buy a Squire and it's fine. But, like, people are always
looking at these cheap guitars on Amazon. And you see these channels on
YouTube all the time, like, I bought the cheapest guitar on Amazon and see how
much it sucks, and they always suck. But my idea,
my take on it, it's like, Yeah, there's so many people already doing That's fine.
They can keep doing that. But they're like, I'll take it. I'll review it as
if you just bought it and be like, okay, this is what's wrong with me,
but here's how you can fix that. Most things are fixable. Like,
that's like another mentality I have. Everything can be fixed. You
know? There are no real bad guitars unless, like, the neck is twisted
or something. It may be cheap, but it can you can still make it play
it and you can still make it comfortable. But, you know, here's how you do
it. Like, this guitar, if you bought this one, it's got this problem or at
least mine does, the one I bought. And this is how you fix it. Let's
go through something like that. Because, let's face it, if you're buying cheap
guitars, you're not planning on bringing it to somebody to pay them to fix it.
You're buying a cheap guitar because it's cheap. So I'll try to, like, fix it
and show you how to fix it with something you probably have instead of my
100 of dollars worth of ridiculously specific files,
you know? Because there are tricks to get around things and if you
don't own all that stuff. Because most people aren't gonna spend, you know, $500
on nut files because you have to have every single, you know, gauge string,
which I did because, you know, if I'm gonna do this, you gotta have all
the right stuff. But, like, that's that's one of my ideas and where I'm
planning on going forward, but it's still, you know, very much in
the, the idea process. I still have to dedicate an
area to, like, set up, you know, something to shoot video
for and then, you know, get some cheap instruments. But, like, that
requires audience participation because, like, I could just pick something cheap
online, but it's like, what were you guys looking for? You know? Were you just
looking at a specific instrument, but you're, you know, afraid to pull the trigger on
it because it could be a piece of crap? I'll do it.
But if I keep doing this, I'd I'll end up with, you know, a stack
of cheap guitars. So I'd either have to, like, you know, flip
them, sell them, or, you know, give them away to, subscribers or
whatever. Yeah. That's a good idea. Give them away to somebody that could
actually use it. So now it's cheap guitar, but now it's been, you know,
professional setup. Air quotes.
I have a hard time calling myself a professional. It's, you know, the imposter syndrome
thing. I mean, I've been doing it for long enough to probably call myself a
professional, but, you know, that's that whole thing.
Voice in your head tells you you can't. Yeah. Like, you're you're an idiot. You're
just you make making this up. You learned everything. You know how to do this
from YouTube. You know? That's another one of my goals for, you
know, the coming year. I don't know when that's gonna start, but that's that's part
of it. So the and I'm and I'm hoping that, you know, that brings more
traffic into my stuff, you know. That's a a big problem
beginners have and why they put them down. It's like you buy a cheap guitar
thing, and I'll learn how to play this, but cheap guitars are hard to play
because they're never set up, you know, properly from the factory. They're actually set
up worse on purpose because they and then they have to do less
work to it. So, you know, it has high action. It's, you know, hard to
play. Ideally, you would bring that to a professional, have them set it up
so it's easy for you to play. But, again, you're beginning, most people don't even
know you can do that kind of stuff, you know, have that done Right. Especially
if you're brand new to it. So, like, to have somebody say, this is a
cheap instrument. If you're a beginner, this is how you make it play good
enough, and then you'll want to play. If it's comfortable and easy to play,
make all the difference, you know? And then you'll keep playing. You'll actually learn
because for a lot of new people, like, the hurdle isn't necessarily how hard
it is to learn how to play the instruments, how to play the
instrument itself. And if the instrument's fighting you, like I was saying before, it shouldn't
fight you. The thing should play itself, kind
of. Yeah. Totally. I remember the first guitar I ever bought, and it
was horrible. I didn't even know what action was, but the strings were,
like, you know, an inch and a half off the fretboard. Right. Exactly. Yeah. It's
like most people don't know that there's a truss rod in there. You can adjust
that. They'll leave it in their car overnight. It gets cold and things move. And
now it's like, oh, what? It got worse. How did that happen? Like
yeah. So, like, that like, I wanna be able to give back to the community
in that way but still, you know, do something fun, hopefully help my
business. You know, it's it's got multiple multiple facets for
why I wanna do something like that. And like you said, I think it's just,
like, multipurpose. I think that's that's really special for everybody. Right.
The reason that, like, we found out about each other is because of the hat
you're wearing because my Yes. Friend, Josh, who I used
to be in a band with, always used to wear that hat. And then eventually,
I just asked him. I was like, what's CRC Guitar? Like, I never heard about
them before. And then he told me about you, and then we eventually met at
one of the old Tulsa shows. But Yep. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's part of it
too is the is the the branding. You know? Right. Exactly. Yeah. I'll try get
these out. They'll send you one. Just DM me your address later, and, I
got, like, a whole stack of just Oh, sweetie. That'd be awesome.
But but, yeah, I mean, like, that's that's the thing. It's just connections. Like, you
know, I I knew Josh through my brother. Now, you know, I know you through
Josh, and hopefully that, you know, it's just little connections like that is
what that's gonna build it. So, like, that's that's my other goal. Just keep making
connections, and that's gonna help build absolutely everything because that's all
this has ever been is, you know, person to person. I do better
that than anything I've done online. Mhmm. Yeah.
Totally. There's there's definitely, I mean, it's, I guess, a
necessary evil maybe online stuff, but but, yeah, I'm with you there
as, like, far as, like, human interaction is, like, way better than
Right. I mean, you can see some of these videos online, but you're not gonna
get, you know, the personal, you know, you're not gonna get somebody's
personality at that. I mean, I try to put as much of it as I
can on there, but Mhmm. It makes it's so much it's a much
bigger, impression in person. So Mhmm.
For sure. For sure. And then, then the last question I have for you is
a question I like to ask everybody, is what does purpose mean to you
and, like, define it in in your own terms? I guess, you know, music has
been such a big part of my life forever. I mean, I
was never good at writing it, okay enough at playing it, but
just keeping it at the forefront. I knew it was always something I needed to
be involved with. So, like, if you know what you need to
be involved with, I don't stick with it. I mean, it's
whoever you are as a person, I don't even know how to how to
work with this guy. It's such a tough question.
No. I think you you were onto something there. Like, I think the the it's
the thing, like, that, you know, you need to be involved with because there's
this is completely off topic and I might just lose your whole train of thought,
but I've already lost it. It's alright. I don't even know where I was
going. There's this guy that I
followed for a little bit. He he had, like, YouTube videos, on, like,
music production kind of stuff. And when I was learning how to, like,
engineer, I would follow his stuff because I like the way that he, like, explained
things. And he always said, like, when he was younger, he, like, loved Soundgarden.
He loved Chris Cornell, and he wanted to be, you know, a rock star when
he was younger. But then he got to a point where he realized he was,
like, well, it's probably not gonna happen. Like, I'm not that great at playing music
or writing music. But then he found he could teach people how to record music,
and that was, like, how he kinda, like, twisted his dream of,
like, music to be involved with music, but, like, not be a rock star.
So it's kinda, like, I I feel like that's kinda where I was. It's like,
yeah, maybe maybe I wasn't gonna be the rock star that I thought I was
gonna be. You know, I wasn't gonna be playing it, but it's like music
is who I you know, it's everything from how I
dress to everything else I do. You know, it's it is my
purpose, I guess. That that's what it is. But and as long as I'm involved
in it somehow, maybe it's maybe I'm not making music, but I'm making
the things to make the music, and it's helping other people. Also, it's like I
may I might not be the painter, but I'm making the brushes. You know what
I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Totally. That's, I guess
I mean, that's what it means. I don't I still I still don't think I've
answered the question what this purpose mean to me, but, like, that, I
feel like, is my purpose is to something with music. You know? And as
long as I'm involved with it somehow, I guess, that kind of it's I don't
know. Hey. It's a good enough answer for us. As long as you're
satisfied with that. And that's all that matters.
Well, I, hey, I appreciate, I appreciate your honesty and,
you know, your perspectives on everything and just
explaining how you you think about things. I think it's I think that to me
is helpful for me to learn even even though you may not see it. Like,
for me, it's, like, inspiring for me to hear how you think and hear how
you work and, like, think about things. So, yeah, I appreciate you, like, explaining
everything for us. Yeah. No problem. Thanks. Yeah. And then, just last thing, like,
where can people find you online if they wanna follow you? I'm CRC
Guitars on just about everything. Instagram, it's CRC underscore
guitars. On Facebook, CRC Guitars. There is another
guy on Facebook called CRC Guitars, but it's like CRC
Academy or something like that. I'm not that guy.
I'll make sure to find the right link, and then I'll put them in the
show notes so people can just do the clicking. Again, thanks thanks so much for
your time. And, good luck with, if everything with CRC guitars.
Thanks. Thank you for listening to
Working Towards Our Purpose. If you liked today's episode and are interested
in more, you can sign up for my Substack newsletter with the link in the
show notes, where I share thoughts, tips, and ideas that I'm
learning along my journey to help inspire you. The show was
produced by Pleasant Podcast atpleasantpodcast.com.