04/18/2025
Welcome to the Ride — Let’s Crank It Up
Welcome to my life. Grab a seat, crank the volume, and stay awhile. Whether you stumbled in here by accident or came looking for some serious guitar know-how with a heavy metal twist, I’m stoked you’re here. This space isn’t just about guitars—it’s about what they represent: rebellion, expression, and unfiltered soul. So settle in, because we’re about to kick off something loud, wild, and seriously electrifying. Wishing you a beautiful, fabulous, shreddalicious, and just the right amount of evilish day. Let’s ride.
It all started back in the summer of 1987, in my hometown of Alameda, California—a city that, for me, holds more than just memories. It’s where the fuse was lit. Picture this: glam rock on the rise, heavy metal pouring through every garage, and the culture of rebellion hanging thick in the air. I wasn’t just listening to the music—I was absorbing it, letting it dig its claws into me. And it never left. That summer, the soundtrack of my life changed forever. From Motley Crüe and Ratt to Dio and Metallica, the sonic assault became my foundation, and it shaped every part of me—from my attitude to my tools, to the guitars I’d soon obsess over.
Before long, I wasn’t just a fan—I was a builder, a fixer, a relentless tinkerer. The guitar became my weapon of choice, but I wasn’t content to play it—I wanted to understand it, rip it apart, rewire its guts, reshape its body, and make it scream like nothing else. And that’s exactly what I started doing. Off and on over the next three decades, I dove deep into the world of guitar customization. Some folks build model planes—I built monsters with six strings. It wasn’t always pretty. It wasn’t always clean. But it was always real.
Every guitar I’ve worked on has a story. Some were rescues—battered old axes left for dead that I brought back to life with a soldering iron and a vision. Others were custom builds from the ground up, each one infused with grit, style, and a bit of rebellion. I’ve carved, cut, burned, re-fretted, aged, upgraded, Frankensteined, and sacrificed more than a few strings to the tone gods. Through it all, I’ve kept learning, evolving, pushing boundaries. I never wanted to just follow the blueprint—I wanted to tear it up and write my own.
You can expect killer builds—some clean and classy, others twisted and totally over-the-top. I’ll be showing you the nuts and bolts of guitar setup, giving you hacks for repairs you can do yourself, and diving into mods that take your tone from average to savage. Want to know how to rewire a pickup without frying your fingers? Curious about neck shimming tricks that’ll change your action for good? Ever wonder what happens when you fuse vintage parts with modern attitude? It’s all coming. Raw, real, and straight from my bench.
My site just for tech heads or tone junkies. It’s for anyone who’s ever fallen in love with the feel of a guitar in their hands. If you’ve ever gotten chills from a perfect bend, or stayed up all night because you couldn’t stop tweaking your pedalboard, then you already know—you belong here. This space is for the rebels, the lifers, the curious minds who don’t just want to play—they want to understand what makes it tick.
We’ll go deep. Not just into repairs, but into the soul of the instrument. I’ll take you behind the curtain into the world of custom mods, vintage part hunting, tonal sorcery, and straight-up DIY madness. We’re going to mess with convention. We’re going to break a few rules. And we’re going to celebrate the glorious chaos that is guitar culture.
I’m also bringing some backup. Over the years, I’ve worked with some brilliant minds—techs, luthiers, fellow builders, and gearheads who aren’t afraid to experiment. You’ll hear about one in particular: my mysterious friend and co-conspirator known only as Greasefiend. He prefers to stay in the shadows, but trust me, the man is a mad genius when it comes to guitar sorcery. His fingerprints are on a lot of what you’ll see here—whether it’s a killer hack, a mod so wild it borders on illegal, or some old-school wisdom that the big brands don’t want you to know.
Ultimately, this site is about the journey. My journey, sure—but also yours. Whether you’re just picking up a screwdriver for the first time, or you’ve been tweaking tone caps since the ’70s, there’s something here for you. This is a community—a shared garage of grit, passion, and loud, glorious noise.
So again, welcome. This is more than a page. It’s a shrine to the dirty, glorious, uncompromising craft of guitar maintenance and modification. We’re going to get loud. We’re going to get messy. And we’re going to build some damn cool things together.
Now grab your soldering iron. Crack open your toolbox. Fire up your amp. We’re just getting started.
Stay loud. Let’s ride.
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