Mountainview Publishing, LLC INSIDE the Don Grosh Guitars & how to build a modern classic... The Player’s Guide to Ultimate Tone TM Our journey to Bloomfield, $10.00 US, October 2010/VOL.11 NO.12 Report Colorado for a conversa- tion with Don Grosh on true custom building, the birth of the ElectraJet and more... Don Grosh Guitars 7 “Any problem you can’t solve with a good guitar is either unsolvable, or isn’t a problem.” Time has come today... Uknown Hinson submits to the probe at the Earl in East Atlanta When it comes to guitars, no one can tell you what you oughta be playing. Our relation- ship with a guitar is far too personal and subjective to be reduced to another white-hot 12 flavor of the month hoisted to must-have status in a chat room. First of all, you should Joe Naylor’s want to pick up a guitar and actually play it, and let’s face it, plenty of guitars new and Reverend old have been built that most of us would simply find uninspiring on style points alone Unknown Hinson Signature – like a Mosrite, for example. Maybe the color is all wrong, or the body shape is Guit-tar naff… The neck may feel too clumsy, or the headstock shape is goofy, the hardware 13 too clunky, or perhaps the guitar isn’t really flawed at all – it’s just not ‘you.’ These Our review of the are all valid reasons to bypass even the most popular and revered guitar designs, affordable and toneful because if it isn’t for you, well, it just and simply isn’t. Vox AC30C2X The truth is, most of us are ruthlessly finicky about the guitars we choose 15 to play, and this is the challenge facing small, independent custom build- The Majestic... now made ers like Don Grosh. Consider this… When you buy one of the archetypes in the USA, in guitar building – a Strat, Tele, Jazzmaster, Les Paul, SG, 335, 6120, mate... D18 or a J45, within fairly familiar parameters you know what you’re getting. There is a certain degree of comfort and safety in buying an 16 archetype, even though these guitars, like any others, can wildly vary Reeves Amplifiers in sound and feel for no outwardly apparent reasons. We review the The ‘little guy,’ on the other hand, must surmount magnificent and uber versatile some very significant challenges just to be favorably Custom 50 Jimmy noticed, not to mention attaining a modest level of & Super ‘78 profitability. Name recognition can only be achieved one player at a time – an agonizingly slow process 17 for anyone lacking patience. The small custom Pinstripe Magic.. builder must also possess the skill and vision Eric Collins’ ‘Bluesbreaker-Pinstripe’ to create an instrument that clearly offers rocks something unique and of value – a cool and embraceable design, superior 18 workmanship and materials that Bits & Pieces... surpass that of a production guitar, No more tears... exceptional playability, tuning Lava Cable’s stability, and outstanding tone. solderless patch cable kit... Simple enough, eh? History would 19 indicate otherwise. It seems that the The Diaz Texas Ranger... modern custom builder’s ultimate a pedal you really, really goal in designing guitars would be to need create an instrument that possesses an www.tonequest.com cover story enduring appeal that is universally name. What you really need to gather from this review is that recognized and appreciated by play- Grosh overbuilds utterly fantastic guitars at a very reasonable ers whose influences and musical price, while allowing you the freedom to acquire what will be taste are as unique as the builder’s the perfect guitar for you rather than someone else. The fol- vision. Such a guitar, it seems to us, lowing interview vividly reveals the Grosh story and how he would earn the status of a ‘modern builds guitars today. The rest is up to you. We urge you to hit classic,’ and in our opinion, Don the Grosh web site when you have the time to linger, consider Grosh has achieved that goal with the all the varied models and options, pick one, and Enjoy… ElectraJet. TQR: How did your interest in working on and building Our review of the ElectraJet will be guitars initially develop, Don? undoubtedly be the most concise gui- tar review ever published (and you’re I’ve always been a ‘tool guy’ reading it now.) Yes, we could tease ever since I was a little kid. you with glowing praise describ- I was always tinkering and ing the worn-in feel of the perfectly building stuff, and I was shaped satin neck, the exquisite fret comfortable with power tools work, the exceptional metallic finish on our review guitar because my dad really just that reminded us of the faded copper color of an old Gibson turned me loose. When I’d go sparkling burgundy 335, or the stellar balance and feel of to a friend’s house he would the ElectraJet in hand… We could rant endlessly about the have to ask permission to use a uniquely toneful tone of the Grosh humbucking pickups, or jig saw, and that seemed really the precise and reliable nature of the Gotoh tremolo… But weird to me (laughing). My you’ve no doubt already read hundreds of glowing guitar dad’s side of the family owned reviews, and when referencing Grosh guitars, to simply crank Grosh & Sons Scenic Studios out another review on just one model would leave you woeful- in Hollywood. My grandfather started the company, and there ly short-changed. We visited the shop in Bloomfield, Colorado were four brothers in the family dating back to the 1930s. and saw how all the different Grosh guitars and basses are They built sets for film and stage like Pirates of the Carib- made, how the wood is selected, stored and worked, how the bean, the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland as well as working nitro finish is painstakingly applied, the necks shaped and the for lots of hotels in different locations like Las Vegas, so by frets dressed, and how the pickups are wound. Don Grosh the time I was in high school I was proficient in welding and builds roughly 22 guitars every 30 days. He could build more, carpentry work. When I got into BMX racing my friends and but not the way he chooses to build them. While we received I would fabricate our own frames and weld them together, and an ElectraJet specifically for review, we can tell you that all for awhile I was making my own skateboard decks. the varied Grosh models share the same attention to detail, and every one of them embodies an uncommon appeal that When I got into guitars at 18, I immediately started working reflects the builder’s eye for classic design that marries the on them for myself and friends, putting together necks and romance of the past with modern day precision, craftsman- bodies and doing repairs. It isn’t like I sat down and read any ship and consistency. If you can’t find exactly want you want books about guitar construction – I just jumped into it. One in stock through a dealer, you can order a guitar, choosing of my first guitars was a Guild D-50 that I still have, and my among all the considerable options available. That’s custom brother and I built a Martin from one of those kits from the building. The beauty of the ElectraJet and all the other Grosh 1833 shop, and after models is that that I built a thinline you can get acoustic/electric that what you want, I still have and play. not just what’s I had a Les Paul available, and Custom and a Gibson Don Grosh 335, but I really liked is completely all kinds of guitars. hands-on, work- ing in the shop TQR: How did you graduate from working on instru- every day build- ments of your own and for friends to becoming the ing the guitars shop manager at Valley Arts guitars? That’s a huge that bear his jump. -continued- 2 TONEQUEST REPORT V.11 N.12 October 2010 cover story Well, I was working in and I wanted to see where that would go. Eventually the band the construction industry fell apart, and since I had kept a lot of tools and equipment in building custom homes, my parents’ 3-car garage, I was building guitars on the side. from complete framing I took three prototypes to the 1993 NAMM show and had a to cabinet work, and I couple of guitars in the Matchless booth that year, and they had been doing that for were well-received. I also took the guitars down to Make’n quite awhile and I was Music in North Hollywood and they became my first dealer. getting a little burned Some of the musicians that bought my guitars included Mi- out with it. I went into chael Landau, who bought five or six, Oliver Lieber, Randy construction right out of Jacobs and John Shanks. high school and we were doing some really high-end work – my main thing was custom cabinetry and custom bars – really TQR: Those ‘garage’ guitars would almost be collectible complex work, and I still do some from time to time because now... So did you continue building in the 3-car when your wife wants some crown molding in the house and garage? she knows you can do it… (laughing). I had three guitars that I had built that were really pretty good, and I had seen an ad Yes, at that time there weren’t in Guitar Player for Valley Arts, so I took my guitars down a lot of small custom builders there and they hired me to work in the repair department.