Who is behind Heckler Custom Guitars?
I was born and raised in the small town of Howell, Michigan.  Ever since I can remember I have been amazed by the ability of a guitar player to create an audio image on a canvas of wood and frets with nothing but his/her fingertips... After many years in the rock band Red 57 and an ongoing solo acoustic project I began the search for the perfect guitar and sound for me.  A basement full of guitars later, I started to wonder how I could put my mechanical engineering degree and years of guitar playing to the test in an attempt to create a guitar that would satisfy my tonal and visual ideals. After some research, mentoring, and some woodworking experience I had built my first guitar.  With this first guitar came a heightened sense of appreciation and awareness for every aspect of the instrument and a desire for further personal discovery. Acoustic guitars, custom hand wound pickups, and hand wired tube amps were soon on the list of things that I aspired to create.

The need for a better pickup soon became apparent to me after I tried seemingly every pickup on the market and still wanted further tonal control of my creations. The most important thing that I learned about pickups is that the perfect pickup will only translate the sound of the guitar itself and the world’s greatest pickup cannot make an inferior guitar sound spectacular.  On the other hand, the knowledge of the construction of an electric guitar pickup allows the builder to design it in such a way that will highlight and shape the tone of the particular wood combination. The philosophy that every aspect of construction of a guitar is crucial to creating a great sounding instrument, the pickup becomes the last step in shaping the tone before sending the electrical signal to the amp.

There is not a large staff of factory workers or fancy automated CNC machines building guitars and pickups for Heckler Custom Guitars .  It's just me, one man taking my time to painstakingly focus on every detail.  Each guitar is hand crafted from raw materials right down to the inlays, custom laminated wood bindings, and sound hole rosette. In the end, the perfect tone is a matter of personal preference. That is why my goal is to learn the customer’s ideal feel and sound, and then be able to create an heirloom quality instrument that satisfy all of their tonal, ergonomic, and visual desires.