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My experience in the guitar business is extensive and other then washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant and playing in bands working with guitars is the only job I have ever had.
I studied graphic arts in high school, but after high school I spent three years in a Bucks County College studying music and music theory. I studied Jazz guitar but after the third year my teacher told me that I should just play rock because I really had no interest in Jazz and I really would only practice the scales and learn chords that I liked. In 1984 I left college and was employed by Ibanez guitars. Since I started in the guitar business I began learning how-to set-up instruments, my job was to check and setup 50 guitars a day. After one year I was promoted to the guitar repair department for five years until I became the manager of repair, teaching new employees repair and restoration. I left ibanez in 2003 because I went as far as an American could go in a Japanese company. As time went by almost all the other good employees I worked with also moved on. It was a good learning experience but also there was too muchstress and in a Japanese company you take the blame but never any credit? That is the Japanese society. Also working for a company that does not actually make guitars and only buys them from other companies was a little strange. After leaving Ibanez I took on many consulting jobs, actually I did 3 years of building and working with Pianos, and continued to make advances in the guitar world, learned how to program and run CNC equipment and made a good living at the same time. In 2004 I teamed up with Tonny Kim and we started the Leader Guitar Factory in China to make the best guitars in the world. |
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2004
2010
Though the late 1980's into the early 1990's I had my own repair business out of my house and I became known for only working on vintage guitars from the late 1940's through the early 1970's. Many local people from the east coast of the United States would only let me work on their guitars. I have built, repaired or customized guitars for many people including Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Larry Mitchell, Andy Timmons, John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Frank Gambali, George Benson, Pat Metheny, John Schofield, Paul Stanley, Gerald Veasley, Gary Willis and at least 50 more people worldwide. From 1991 I was put in charge of Ibanez worldwide quality control from our Hoshino USA office here in Bensalem Pennsylvania. I have visited Japan, Korea and China over thirty times, and also visited over thirty-five guitar factories through out the world working with these factories to help them understand basic guitars from a market and playing point. Each factory has their own production style so I would only try to help them improve the product, how the improvements were done was basically up to the factory. Since the late 1980's I have been involved with designing in some way or another almost all of the Ibanez guitar models. I really love guitars and other then my family, my life's passion is building and designing guitars. Because of my busy lifestyle it is impossible for me to play in a band because I could never devote the time involved to learn and practice songs. I still practice playing guitar everyday and both my office at work and home are filled with many guitars hanging on the walls and since I am always making something I still get to practice and try news things almost daily. Personally I own somewhere around 400 guitars I have a hard time counting them because so many are all over the place, under beds, in closets or even out on loan to my friends. Of these 35 I personally made about 25 of them for myself and I have never sold a guitar, I still own my first Harmony Rocket that I bought for $35.00 from a friend. Now I have a factory in the USA two US Warhouses a factory in China and an Office in Korea. Between all my companies I am making between 5000 and 7000 guitars per month. Here is my new shop, Moved up a little since the old days. One thing always remains the same, I awlays have a workbench in my office! Any guess on the guitar I am making?
My new work bench 2008 with an EDAN Custom for Alex Touch.
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My old work benches from the past
Ibanez 2000 I loved this bench. |
Ibanez 2000 |
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