Photo by Reuben Cox, used with permission.īack in the mid-20th century, companies like Harmony, Kay, and Danelectro sold large amounts of guitars through catalogs and at Sears department stores. His career as a photography professor at Cooper Union and Sarah Lawrence College gave him access to wood and metal shops, where he had built a few electric guitars as a hobbyist, but if someone handed him a holy-grail vintage guitar, could he be trusted? It's out of this necessity that Cox found his niche with inexpensive catalog guitars from the '50s and '60s.Ī wall of catalog guitars and vintage amps at Old Style Guitar Shop. Here was a chance to run his own business, be his own boss, and live a charming Americana dream in a city with an unabashed competition for fame.īut this confidence was somewhat unwarranted Cox didn't play much guitar and had minimal repair experience. Rent in Silver Lake was cheap enough, the risk was low enough, and if he failed, he could revert to his previous career as a college-level photography teacher and editorial photographer for magazines. He was out with his daughter for a walk when he stumbled upon a "for rent" sign in front of a small and dusty store right off the 101. Reuben Cox relocated to Los Angeles, California, in 2009 and opened a guitar shop on a whim. So what is the appeal of rubber bridge guitars to artists and producers who have become obsessed? How does a photographer-turned-luthier end up as one of the most sought-after luthiers in Los Angeles? And-seeing as the guitars are kind of everywhere-why don't more people know about them? The Start of Old Style & Rubber Bridge Builds The guitar "sounds really old and it just really kind of writes songs for you in a way," Dessner said. Taylor Swift and The National's Aaron Dessner mention the guitars in the Disney+ documentary Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, when Dessner recounts how he purchased one for Swift. In just a few years from this initial build, Cox's rubberized bridge guitars have proliferated throughout indie rock and into the highest realms of pop music.Ī post shared by Blake Mills guitars are all over some of the hottest contemporary records-whether it's Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher, Taylor Swift's Folklore, Wilco's Ode to Joy, or Bob Dylan's Rough and Rowdy Ways. It was the first of what would become a signature modification from Cox's Old Style Guitar Shop. In just a few hours, Cox built the guitar and brought it to Mills at his home. To amplify this muted sound, he installed a '70s Bill Lawrence pickup with a high output. Scouring his shop for the right parts, he found a hollow plywood telecaster thinline body that he had built, threw an '80s Squier Bullet neck on it, and wrapped a '60s Japanese bridge in rubber from Home Depot. He stood at his worktable determined to recreate the mellow yet amplified sound of the banjo, but instead on Mills' primary instrument-a guitar. Cox was mesmerized by the beauty of the unusual sound it created.Ī day later, Cox, owner and luthier at the Old Style Guitar Shop, remained fixated on the sounds he had heard at Sound City. Right away, Cox noticed something out of place-Mills, the guitar virtuoso, was tracking with a strange 1950s electric banjo that had a wood-and-metal wedge resting against the strings. Reuben Cox walked into Los Angeles' famed Sound City Studios, which bore timeless records like After the Goldrush and Fleetwood Mac, stunned to hear what he describes as "the most amazing sound ever heard." Still a haven for today's creators, the studio that day saw Blake Mills and producer Tony Berg working on Andrew Bird's 2016 record Are You Serious.
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