Well it never fails, the more we learn, the more we look for... So many times I starved myself for months to pick up a renown classic - only to find more plastic and wood screws, tin hardware and designs that lacked so many things that COULD be done better.  Needless to say, if I still had all the classic pieces I bought through the eighties, I could sell them off and never work a day in my life, from this point forward. I pretty much had rare versions of them all at one point or another - Strats, Pauls, Teles, ESs, Rickenbackers, Gretches, you name it. What always got to me was a sort of list - a bunch of little things that were lacking in quality and precision - and a number of things that were just plain cheap.

It never made any sense - while nearly every product under the sun was becoming more refined, it seemed the guitar was just ignored. Technology wasn't just for the information age - there were so many advancements in the mechanical and precision areas of manufacturing, while the guitar seemed forgotten. And on the other side of it, so many just added pretty hardware and binding in an attempt to dress up an otherwise unattractive design. Of course we all get used to seeing them in that way, and some of them are accepted as a standard by the masses. Another piece of this, is how a guitar company always produces very fine pieces at the beginning - and while very few keep their standard of quality, most will settle more for the profit margin in favor of continuing with the finer work that makes them shine in the first place. But still, there were issues with some of the fundamental design of hardware that needed some real attention.

Then a cabinet maker decides to show some faith in his own Great ideas - and soon after, Ned Steinberger was well known all over the planet. That the tuning system produced a 100% increase in accuracy due to it's ratio was staggering! And removing the un-needed appendage from the neck was truly inspired! Hats off to Mr. Steinberger - he has a place in my heart, just as much as Les Paul for inventing multi-track recording, and Rickenbacker for inventing the electric guitar pickup! 

What followed for me was a search to simply come up with a bridge and end-cap, as I was determined to build my own special guitar - something NO one had ever seen or heard. I had this super fine piece of maple burl that moved around with me for well over four years - evolving as I worked it into shape. Meanwhile (before the internet was in play), I wrote Steinberger, Honer in Germany, even Ibanez - sadly hearing nothing from all of them. A few years later, I worked at a music store that was an authorized Ibanez repair shop - and finally got something much like the Steinberger set bridge (a replacement piece for the Axstar model) - and to top it off, this thing was machine brass, instead of the pot metal that is still being used for current Steinberger stuff. Yep - their first Steinberger bridge was tool steel - but those are Still nearly impossible to come by... The neck was pretty much the same story - no sale without buying a 2500 dollar instrument. Then I stumbled upon a flyer while living in Seattle, from a little start up company with eight guys running the show - Warmoth. I bought a rosewood neck with an ebony fretboard, 24 frets - and then (scariest moment I ever experienced with building guitars) - I pulled the "Bloody Mary" on it! Carved my own bone nut, and carved an in-set down the back that the (later purchased) Steinberger end-cap clamps into at the end. In early 1988 I had my first truly precious (to me) guitar. The track on the main page was recorded with this guitar.

What follows was simply a result of playing that guitar in many places throughout the west coast and here in Colorado. It was against my selfish intent to have the only one, but I began building them here and there for comrades in music - promising myself that I would only do this for people I really liked. But in the end, I found that I get a great deal of pleasure out of surprising those I don't even know with guitars like this. The point is - the more I do this, the more special it becomes. Besides, what's the point of having something awesome, if no one else ever knows of it's existence? And I could present a tangible answer to the "little things" that always bothered me about the classic pieces I had owned in the past. And while this grows, I continually discover ways to make the instrument more functional, more personalized, and more refined. From new sources of machine parts and aviation class electronic parts, to deeper integration of the hardware - my old complaints are becoming pleasant successes! Now I am seeking to finish my own design, and have an exclusive bridge and tuning system that is all Fretsong. This will truly place my vision into the tangible world to stay...

More to come...

I really understand - those of you that are seeking to have something truly awesome to play. I couldn't possibly explain how nuts it was trying to find the same, prior to the internet. And this experience is at the core of what makes it SO entertaining, and pleasing to make this available to all of you! Please, feel free to put any idea on the table - and I will help you work out the details, and build you an incomparable instrument.

Many thanks for your business, and your valued confidence in my work.

PM