Tag Archives: Vintage guitar

A Bigger Coop

Posted by dkrashb on
Welcome to the Coop

Welcome to the Coop

One of the main reasons we haven’t been nearly as nomadic as we had expected to be is because of my husband’s decision to start building guitars in Chattanooga.  They have a really cool business development center that makes it a lot easier to start a new business and make it successful.

My husband had wanted to build guitars for a long time–he invented a machine to make it possible to build replicas about 16 years ago, in fact.  He periodically would order parts, but the machine didn’t become a reality until a couple of years ago.  Then, when we moved to Chattanooga, he had set guitar building aside.

A ring from a very special tree provides the wood for caps on 3 guitars

A ring from a very special tree provides the wood for caps on 3 guitars

At least until he discovered the business development center directly across the street.  Suddenly, switching gears from buying and selling collectable vintage electric guitars to building reproductions of them became a reality.

He’s an impressive guy.  He knows everything there is to know about the guitars he’s dealt in for more than 20 years now.  He’s among the best at recognizing original finishes and has been consulted for his opinion from near and far.  Now, he’s turned that knowledge into a way to create beautiful replicas that are aged to look like a genuine vintage guitar, which allows people to enjoy the look and feel of playing an extremely valuable instrument for far less money.

He’s also added some touches that make his guitars more playable than some of the originals.  Essentially, he creates instruments you can play that make you feel like you’re playing an instrument that should be in a museum.

Using one of his inventions to carve out the complex curves of the body

Using one of his inventions to carve out the complex curves of the body

But he doesn’t just know vintage guitars.  He knows how to build them.  And he doesn’t just know how to build them, he knows how to create machines to help make them really accurate.

I’m always amazed when I watch him designing something like the complex machines he has invented, designed, and built.  He gets as excited as I get when I’m talking about f/stops and the exposure triangle.  His eyes light up and his voice gets more intense.  He exudes the energy that only comes with creativity.

A second machine he built allows him to make necks the exact shape he wants

A second machine he built allows him to make necks the exact shape he wants

I am going to go back and get some macro shots of the carefully aged parts on the guitars if I have to time to shoot again before this set ships.  Even the screws have been aged to look like an actual vintage instrument’s.

When Pat first hatched the idea of Coop Guitars (www.coopguitars.com), he was looking for a space for a workshop that would allow him to build in an efficient manner (rather than in our garage where he spent half his time moving things around to make space).  He went to look at a friend’s vacant chicken coop to see if it could be converted into a workshop  That was when he decided the name of his guitars would be Coop Guitars.  He ended up not setting up shop in that chicken coop, but the name stuck.  Someday, maybe we’ll have some chickens in the workshop.

Product testing

Product testing

The Face of the BDC

Posted by dkrashb on
It must be odd to be face-to-face with yourself

It must be odd to be face-to-face with yourself

My husband is an expert in vintage guitars.  He’s been buying and selling them for about 20 years or so. But he was always passionate about building replicas.  While it’s really cool to play a collectible vintage instrument, they’re rare and irreplaceable.  They’re also really expensive.  So, if you can’t afford the real thing or don’t want to risk damaging it, you might choose a replica instead.  Replicas are usually force-aged to look like they’ve been through years of use like a favorite pair of jeans.

My husband is one of those genius people who can figure out how to make or build anything.  He invented a 3-dimensional routing machine about 18 years ago and had been collecting parts to build it since before we moved in together in 1997.

A big grin for my iPhone Camera! app

A big grin for my iPhone Camera! app

He would periodically pull our cars out of the garage and set up shop, turning our over-sized 2-car garage into a woodworking studio.

He built custom guitars when he got this itch.  Usually he did it as a favor to a friend.  But he periodically would come to me and start talking through a plan to build guitars to sell.  I felt he needed to either be a vintage guitar dealer or a guitar maker, not both.

Ultimately, he agreed with me and he kept guitar building at the hobby level until one fateful day.  That was the day he googled guitars shortly after we’d moved to Chattanooga, looking for potential places where he might find collectible guitars to buy.

A very special custom guitar project incorporating wood from a very special tree

A very special custom guitar project incorporating wood from a very special tree

He discovered there was a guitar shop in the large, mysterious building across the street from our apartment call the “BDC.”  One evening, we went in the building to look for the guitar shop.  What we learned was that this was a Business Development Center and the guitar “shop” was actually a guitar builder.  They made original-design electric guitars.

As Pat learned more about the BDC and the support they provided to new businesses, he decided maybe it was time to make the shift from being a guitar dealer to being a guitar builder.  So, he launched Coop Guitars in January of 2012.

He recently was asked to be one of the people included in a collage used for a banner advertising the BDC.  He gets teased about this now.  His fellow BDC residents like to tell him they just saw a group of beautiful young women standing around giggling over his picture.  Or that a bunch of people were there earlier waiting for autographs.  One of them told him he’s “the face of the BDC.”

An S-style body with curves to die for (photo by Pat)

An S-style body with curves to die for (photo by Pat)

He is taking it in stride.  After all, it’s just a banner in the lobby of a building.  I have to say he is looking mighty fine on that banner, though.  I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they were having trouble keeping girls from lurking in the lobby hoping to run into him.  That’s probably what I would do if I were single.  🙂

A collection of coop guitars (photo by Pat)

A collection of coop guitars (photo by Pat)