RBM Month: Kevin Ellis

The first person we are going to spotlight in "Rock Bottom Music" month is Kevin Ellis. He is one of the repair techs at the store. He is a native of Long Island New York. He works on anything that gets brought into Rock Bottom. From guitars and basses to violins and banjos. He does any kind of repairs, paint jobs, set ups and anything that needs done. He went to Atlanta Guitar Works in 2009 to get his certificate in guitar building but has been working on guitars since he was a kid in New York city. He started building and working on guitars because he was wanting to do his own thing. He wanted to improve and customise the instruments he played. The Fender Strat and Gibson Les Pauls that were in Sam Ash music were also an inspiration. He is a big fan of the Les Paul binding. Though he builds for love and not money, he really started getting serious a couple years ago, as far as the business side is concerned. He sold his 1970 SS Chevelle with a 454 in it to get the seed money to start up. He has converted his garage into afull guitar building workshop. Complete with a paint room, tools and a stockpile of wood. His goal for his business is quality, not quantity. He admires the old time craftsmanship were quality came first. Kevin hand works alot of the wood and parts for guitars. Sandpaper and chisels are used alot by him. He got hooked into Rock Bottom Music with his persistance. Hanging out and showing Jonathon Karow his evolving work got him the job. Kevin believes how theneck feels on a guitar is the most important thing about a guitar. He is also a guitar player and sites Eddie Van Halen as a big reason he gotinto the guitar in the first place. Kevin's guitar repair company is called Dream Guitar Works. You can check them out at http://www.dreamguitarworks.com/

I am gonna profile one of his builds. Its called the "Tone God" and is modeled after the Peavey Wolfgang.The body is canary wood. The body top is flame maple. It has a 7 piece binding. The neck and headstock is one piece coco boa. Its a 2 way truss rod with the adjust at the heel. Abolony shell inlays. Stumack jumbo fret wire. 25 and 1/2 inch scale.Wolfgang usa model pick ups.3 way toggle switch. its a go tow floyd rose with alocking nut. Its all hand made.
here is a link to check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EFb1tpDXuc

here is an acoustic he has built http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkhgTb-g_E0&feature=related

more pics of ellis and his shop at http://www.flickr.com/photos/48717650@N06/

Kevin is an honest hard working guy. He is someone who takes pride in his work and loves doing it. I hope you had fun checking this out and stay tuned for the next person to meet from Rock Bottom Music!