This week Bart talks with his wife Amy Allmand about the top country songwriters throughout each decade.
On this week's episode of Thinkin And Drinkin, Bart talks with Stephan McSwain about the foundation of his career building guitars and his journey across the country to grow his brand. Stephan talks about fun challenges that clients bring him, the first band he joined, and the difference of writing and performing compared to building guitars.
Meet Stephan McSwain of McSwain Guitars: From our humble beginnings in an L.A. garage over 20 years ago, I have strived for McSwain Guitars to make its mark on the guitar world one build at a time. My early days were focused on custom-only designs for my own use. But then I started to think I might be onto something when our first guitar went to Steve Vai!
Over the years, I have been very lucky to grow the business and expand our models beyond our custom-only work. Inspired by the timeless beauty of classic brands like GIbson, Fender and PRS, we have seen the emergence of a number of extraordinary high-end, boutique guitar builders. And today, I am proud for McSwain Guitars to play a role in this growing custom electric guitar market.
We hope you'll love some of our designs as much as we do! We invite you to check in often, follow our new models and spread the McSwain Guitars word!
Our most valuable resource is you, our community of clients, collectors and fellow musicians that support our designs and allow us to do what we love most. Build Great Guitars!
What Bart has to say: Stephan is friends with Doug Rappoport, so I knew he’d be a great interview. We’ve never had a guitar builder on the show before and I’m fascinated with that process so it made perfect sense!
In this episode, you’ll hear
Stephan started building things in a steel mill in North Carolina
Stephan loves finding wood that has a story, be it a storm or home that’s been torn down, but the wood really speaks to him.
Stephan talks about getting his first guitar (around 5:20 into the interview)
Links to Connect: