About Us

     Fred Stuart comes from a background rich in diverse influences, but the strongest of these has always been music, and it has usually had a guitar in it. Fred’s father had a career in broadcasting and worked in the Pacific Northwest as an engineer, announcer, and D.J. Over the years, Fred was exposed to a lot of different types of music, and a fair amount of electronics knowledge rubbed off as well.

      While serving in the Army in Vietnam , Fred learned to play the guitar, and on returning to civilian life ,worked as much as possible playing, alternating with working in retail music stores, selling and repairing guitars. The repair side of it eventually turned into guitar building, and in 1987. Fred was hired by the newly formed Fender Custom Shop , where Fred rose to the position of Senior Master Guitar Builder.

     In addition to building over 700 one-off guitars in the 14 years he spent in the custom shop, Fred worked on numerous projects like the 40th anniversary Telecaster, the 35th anniversary Stratocaster, and the 50th anniversary Telecaster, to name just a few. Fred also worked with, and for dozens of artists as varied as Marty Stuart, Buck Owens, and Danny Gatton, to Duff McKagan, and Pete Townshend.

     Fred also has had an interest in guitar pickups from early on and has developed associations with and drawn inspiration from people such as Paul Barth, George Fullerton, Bill Lawrence, Red Rhodes, and Abigail Ybarra.

     Fred believes the guitar is an example of a “perfect” union of art and science. As in both fields one should keep a healthy grip on tradition, while eagerly perusing ideas that will be traditions of the future.