Wyn Guitars

A follow up from the previous post, I collaborated on a 5 string fretless bass with Abraham, the goal — to build a chambered bass with great acoustic bass properties and capable of sounding like an upright bass. Here is Abraham’s first test drive of this bass.

Abraham discusses the process that he and Randy went through to figure out and design his first Wyn bass.

The topic of this video was what advice does Abraham have to offer on how to become a great musician. But by the end of this heartfelt interview, you realize everything Abraham has to say can apply to any and everything in life. Gems of wisdom from on Old Soul.

I’ve been thinking for quite some time that a “tone demonstration video” for the web site was long overdue. So, I recently gathered some friends in my shop to collaborate on this video. It’s purpose was to answer using audio and video rather than words, many of the questions that potential customers almost always seem to ask. How many tones can I get out of a Wyn bass? If it plays great slap and pop, will it also produce mellow R&B tones? Describe the difference in tone you get from one of your fretless basses. Talk about a fool’s errand to put all of that into words!! I was writing way too many emails that weren’t really doing the job.

Fortunately I’m smart enough not to attempt the demonstration myself. I talked my talented Brazilian friend Isaias Elpes (who recently finished two years of study with the master Abraham Laboriel) to do the demos. Two Wyn guitars are going direct into the mixing board, that’s it. No compression, effects or processing. Enjoy!!

The list is growing with customers that I’m building basses for in 2014 as well as potential 2015 customers that want to update on the 2014 progress. What I have concentrated on since the last update on necks was to shift to my full focus on the first six basses on the 2014 list. It’s actually grown to eight, but who’s counting? I often like to get to some major milestone before I do an update, but there is a flow going on and there is just no point where all basses are at the same stage.

This update is intended to give the flavor of the variety of things I’m doing as I attempt to finalize the first six basses before jumping onto the next six. (or seven or eight. Every time I seem to make a rule, I break it) Last year I pretty much built 27 basses all at the same time. Madness I tell you!! They all got done, but it felt like everything was going way too slow. This time, I will concentrate on smaller groups, finish, ship, and go to the next group. It already feels better to me in that I have more of a variety and more of a feeling of progress and completion.

This first photo looks like it’s far along, but other than the top Koa bass, all the others have bodies of unglued sandwiches. I have just cut out the layers and set them with the floor with the necks, and fret board and headstock blocks to start to give the eventual feeling of each bass.

For whatever reason, I have arrived at a group of twenty seven basses that I’m currently working on. I think I started out with twelve and I just kept adding as the orders came in. According to my calculations, just a couple shy of a nervous breakdown, I somehow stopped adding at twenty seven.

This first photo shows how the bass components have taken over my work bench. Seriously, I’m working on a couple of sawhorses wondering how my work bench turned into a giant storage unit!!

Below there are twenty seven “mug shots”. At this point the necks are put together as a laminated block. The body wings the same. It’s the first time I can set the major component pieces together and we can all see it’s going to be a bass guitar one day!! (the tops haven’t been sanded and there’s no finish on them. Just dry wood but you can already see how incredible the grain will be once they have a final finish.) I have listed the guitar top wood with each photo.

No, guys that’s not a typo! Wyn Guitars has reluctantly decided to skip the winter NAMM show this year. This morning, I snapped this photo of my current “work in progress” batch of orders – twenty eight basses in progress with more orders after that! I figured it made more sense this year to stay in my shop and keep the sawdust flying!!

I will miss the conversations and the fun and listening to the best bass players on the planet, but I promise I’ll return next year and we can just pick up where we all left off last year!!!

Happy Holidays and a Great 2013 to Everyone!!

Randall Wyn Fullmer

What are the rewards and what is the price to leave your established career and start again at the bottom? How many nine-to-fivers contemplate the same “great escape”? How many times a day while sanding guitar bodies can I ask myself what in the heck was I thinking?

The film makers are two Canadian cinematographers named Mike Enns and Ralph De Groot. They are a couple of great and super creative guys and the principals at their company – Enns Visuals. Somehow they find my story compelling. There is no explaining Canadians!! But it’s an adventure and I completely trust these guys to make me appear more interesting than I am!!

Happy Pennal and his Toys… Pennal Johnson in an ad for Aguilar Amps, bringing his Wyn along for posterity. Right on Pennal! Photo by Chris Monaghan for Mo/Pho Photography.

Jermaine Jackson’s custom Wyn bass has been completed! For parts 1 and 2 of this post, see The great Jermaine Jackson “J” Bass and The great Jermaine Jackson “J” Bass – Part 2

I have worked with Jermaine off and on over the course of more than a year to brainstorm, make crude drawings, cut out cardboard mock-ups, make the basic guitar block and hang a strap on it to see if the ergonomics were right, and of course, (of course) went shopping for the exact right Swarovski Crystals. Yes………….

Through this entire process, Jermaine has been like a little kid. So in awe of the concept that his idea could actually become a tangible playable bass. Okay, I’m a bit in awe of that myself!! I spent a lot of time explaining the “prototype” thing to Jermaine. There were just a lot of things that I did on this bass that I haven’t really done before, it’s a work in progress, there are no guarantees this will be anything you’ll want to play, etc………. handle in the middle of the top, working with Jermaine’s logo “J” as the basic body shape and coming out with something you could put on your knee and actually play, inlaying the entire fretboard with pearl, and the Crystals………

Did I have my moments?? You bet I did!! But some how (as usual, luck played a role) the “prototype” turned into a very playable, very funky sounding growly bass! Our wild and crazy scheme actually came together as a real bass!! I now know how Geppetto felt when all of a sudden Pinocchio started talking!!