JeffreyJones
11-15-2007, 02:26 PM
Hello, everyone on TGP! I've been a lurker for some time, but I finally have some time to introduce myself and become a participant in a great online community. Last week I got a note from David Myka telling me that he'd posted a thread in the small company builder section using my new fretless guitar, but I was tied up finishing a wave of 3 new guitars and a bass. I was ecstatic, though, because TGP is THE forum that appreciates the small company builders.
I've been a working artist my whole adult life. My primary gig for the past decade or so has been that of a hired gun for the toy industry. I sculpt action figure prototypes. I was a staff sculptor for McFarlane Toys for some years, but left there to build a house and studio back here in my Southwest Missouri hometown 3-4 years ago, where I've been freelancing since.
I'm mostly a jazz player, having been playing guitar for around 30 years. Metheny and Andy Summers are probably my most favorite players and influences. I like to keep my rig fairly simple: a Roland JC120 and an archtop or semi-hollow guitar of my own design/construction. Some years back, I decided that if I could sculpt the 1" tall portrait head of a movie character, I could certainly probably build a guitar. I did just that and was hooked.
This past year, I've been phasing myself out of the toy industry so I can concentrate on my guitars. The toy industry has been evolving in ways I don't want to evolve. I've got no complaints, they've been good to me, but it's become very repetitious and derivative. No one is doing anything original anymore. Copying existing movie, television, and video game properties is the dominant trend, for one reason, marketing tools for those properties are already in place.
The guitars are all mine. I hope to continue designing and building full-time at a pace of 12-15 instruments a year, depending on the complexity of the instrument. I'm a handbuilder, meaning that I don't use a CNC router, but I've got nothing against it. It's just a tool, but I prefer the spontaneity of building without one. My work preferences are very organic and I like the ability to pick the instrument in progress up and make immediate changes with a rasp, based upon how it feels. It's the same way in the toy industry. By the time the order for the changes are sent to the computer modeller and he/she makes the adjustments to the digital file, then they're printed out on a 3-D printer and sent to be cleaned up by a sculptor, the sculptor could have made the direct revision him or herself several times over.
I really appreciate the opportunity to participate in the TGP community and hope I can bring something positive to the party.
All the best,
Jeffrey
I've been a working artist my whole adult life. My primary gig for the past decade or so has been that of a hired gun for the toy industry. I sculpt action figure prototypes. I was a staff sculptor for McFarlane Toys for some years, but left there to build a house and studio back here in my Southwest Missouri hometown 3-4 years ago, where I've been freelancing since.
I'm mostly a jazz player, having been playing guitar for around 30 years. Metheny and Andy Summers are probably my most favorite players and influences. I like to keep my rig fairly simple: a Roland JC120 and an archtop or semi-hollow guitar of my own design/construction. Some years back, I decided that if I could sculpt the 1" tall portrait head of a movie character, I could certainly probably build a guitar. I did just that and was hooked.
This past year, I've been phasing myself out of the toy industry so I can concentrate on my guitars. The toy industry has been evolving in ways I don't want to evolve. I've got no complaints, they've been good to me, but it's become very repetitious and derivative. No one is doing anything original anymore. Copying existing movie, television, and video game properties is the dominant trend, for one reason, marketing tools for those properties are already in place.
The guitars are all mine. I hope to continue designing and building full-time at a pace of 12-15 instruments a year, depending on the complexity of the instrument. I'm a handbuilder, meaning that I don't use a CNC router, but I've got nothing against it. It's just a tool, but I prefer the spontaneity of building without one. My work preferences are very organic and I like the ability to pick the instrument in progress up and make immediate changes with a rasp, based upon how it feels. It's the same way in the toy industry. By the time the order for the changes are sent to the computer modeller and he/she makes the adjustments to the digital file, then they're printed out on a 3-D printer and sent to be cleaned up by a sculptor, the sculptor could have made the direct revision him or herself several times over.
I really appreciate the opportunity to participate in the TGP community and hope I can bring something positive to the party.
All the best,
Jeffrey