Inside
modest shop, electric guitar maker draws on nostalgia
Alexandra
R. Moses
Associated Press
WARREN,
MICH. --
A shiny blue guitar with a palm-tree pattern rests on a work
table, waiting for its neck and strings.
All
around the brightly lit room sit guitar bodies in different
stages of completion, propped against walls or strewn on tables
below cubicle-like dividers with hanging tools.
It
could be a high-school shop class.
But
performers from Kid Rock to Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins
swear by these electric guitars. They are on a long list of
major and minor players who use Joe Naylor's instruments.
"It
does have that 'X' factor that all guitarists are looking
for. I can't exactly put my finger on it," said Nashville
blues guitarist Big Mike Griffin. "It's just a cool guitar
with a fantastic tone."
Naylor
is the founder of Reverend Musical Instruments, a four-room
shop tucked in an industrial park near a freeway in this city
bordering Detroit.
The
41-year-old Ann Arbor native started the business in 1996
after a partnership manufacturing amplifiers ended. It's now
a six-person operation, custom-making guitars, basses and
amplifiers. Naylor estimates they produce about 100 guitars
a month.
The
guitars, which range in price from $679 to $1,000, look like
relics from the 1950s and '60s, with modern touches. They're
influenced by classic cars, Naylor said. "They have a
very Detroit look in that respect," he said.
Reverend
guitars are semi-hollow, producing an acoustic quality even
when they are plugged in. Naylor describes the sound as lively,
consistent and responsive, "like a high-performance sports
car."
The
making of a guitar
The body starts with a plastic rim, a 6-inch white mahogany
wood block, and two pieces of phenolic laminate -- like Formica
-- that form the front and back of the guitar. The surface
is shiny and metallic, shaded in whatever color the customer
chooses, from sky blue to "aged" yellow to fireball
red. Custom options include racing stripes, flames and a Hawaiian
theme with palm trees.
Aaron
Sands, bassist for the Christian band Jars of Clay, says he
uses his Reverend Rumblefish bass in live performances and
studio sessions. "It cuts through while still providing
a solid, consistent low end. The last thing I want to add
to the instrumental mix . . . is a bunch of mud," he
said.
As
a guitar nut, Naylor was a late bloomer. He started playing
and repairing the instruments as a student at Western Michigan
University. After graduating with a degree in industrial design,
he spent five months at the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery
in Phoenix to learn how to craft guitars.
It
would be a few years before he started Reverend, first doing
repairs, then manufacturing amps.
"I was always mechanical. I was always good with my hands,"
he said. "I played with a lot of Legos, things to build
model airplanes, you know, and I was a bicycle mechanic and
I was rebuilding toys since I was a little kid. I'd modify
my Hot Wheels."
Even
the music he plays on his guitar at home is his own. "I
don't like other people's stuff," he said.
The switch to guitar-making wasn't hard, he said, because
he already had established a reputation among musicians while
in the amp business.
Naylor
describes his customers as professional, semiprofessional
and former professionals. It isn't a guitar for beginners,
he said.
The
instruments are custom-ordered, initialed and carry handwritten
serial numbers. "We wanted it to have more of a personal
touch to it, handmade touch to it," Naylor said.
Willie
Moseley, a writer for Vintage Guitar magazine, likens the
interest in Naylor's modern-retro-style guitars to the interest
in cars such as the new Ford Thunderbird and the Chrysler
PT Cruiser, which tip their hats to old-school designs. "It's
a definitive example of the cliché about how 'the only
difference in men and boys is the price of their toys,"
Moseley said.
Naylor
won't reveal how much money the business makes, simply saying
cash flow is good. And he says he isn't in it for the money.
"This
is like a perfect combination of technology and art,"
he said. "And it's the most important instrument of the
20th century, and I like to be a part of that."
