Spotlight On Creativity Unlimited: Patrick Bubien of Bubien Guitars

by PJ Grimes

This interview first appeared in Uncle Jam magazine.

Most people may hold before them a simple piece of wood—a billet of mahogany, maple, alder, ash, or rosewood perhaps. However, to master woodcrafter and luthier Patrick Bubien that piece in hand could very well become part of the next guitar or bass he’ll make. Finding just the right piece of flame maple to work with, for instance, can be for Patrick both “exciting” and “satisfying.” It’s his diamond in the rough.

Known for his “creativity unlimited” approach, Patrick is the founder and owner of Bubien Guitars in San Diego, California. First realizing his distinctive talent at age 15, Patrick began designing and building custom electric guitars before he had graduated high school. Among others, he was commissioned to create guitars for rock bands Vixen (EMI), Slik Toxic (Capitol Records), and Flyweil, and Patrick also created two guitars for Shelton Hank Williams III (Hank III), grandson of country music legend Hank Williams.

Patrick has donated four guitars, as well as a bass, in support of Cartoonists Across America & the World’s global literacy and the arts outreach. Among others, actress Kathy Najimi, Hilary Williams (Hank Williams’ daughter/country music artist/author), Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees, actor Verne Troyer (“Mini Me”), and reggae music star Ky-Mani Marley signed the Bubien RhythmMaster bass. In fact, the popular instruments have been inked by a variety of literacy and creativity supporters and arts & entertainment industry members, including Ray Bradbury (“Fahrenheit 451”); Alan Alda (“M.A.S.H.”); Hilary Williams (singer/songwriter and daughter of Hank Williams, Sr.); Gary Owens (“Laugh-In”); Marilou Henner (“Taxi”); John Carter Cash (Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer and author and son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash); Kevin Eastman (“The Ninja Turtles”); Larry Minetti (“Magnum PI”); Dr. Ruth; Bobby London; Greg Evans (“LuAnn”); Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary); Mark Bode (“Cobalt 60,” Puma); Steve Leialoha (“Star Wars”); Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong; Matt Lorenz (Tony Hawk/Quicksilver); June Foray (“Rocky J. Squirrel”); Sergio Aragones (“MAD” magazine); Phil Ortiz (“The Simpsons”); Bob Burden (“Gumby,”" Flaming Carrot”); Lynn Johnston (“For Better or For Worse”); and many more.

The art of designing and handcrafting guitars offers a unique way to unleash your creativity, but there is far more involved with custom guitar-making than just cutting out a body shape and laying down a color. Patrick spends 25-50 hours or more on some instruments. Painting (also known as finishing) can be painstaking. This type of creative work requires an eye for detail, imagination, patience, and practice, but the end result makes the journey all worthwhile. As Patrick shares: “It’s very rewarding to plug it (the guitar) in and crank it. It is nice to hear something you make “speak” so loudly!”

When did you first realize or know you wanted to make guitars?

Patrick: I had met Todd Desiato, the cousin of a high school friend of my oldest brother. Todd showed me what he made, and I had a design from school, so we got the wood down the street and made a guitar together. It was an all-maple, neck-through model with an ebony fretboard. When the guitar was finally assembled and playing, I think that was the point I knew I wanted to build them.

How does guitar-making allow you to express your creativity?

Patrick: Well, you can step outside the box and make you own designs. For me, the sky’s the limit for body and headstock design, even matching the inlays on the neck. For instance, one of my designs is called the “Hatchett,” where the body looks similar to a Medieval hatchet, and the inlays are little hatchet shapes in mother-of-pearl. Use your own creativity: take a design you like and add to it, take away from it, shorten it, and/or lengthen the horns, cutaways, hips, and bouts. Or, you can completely create an original design.

Wood is your artistic medium, and you create through it beautiful and unique guitars and basses, furniture, doors, artist craft stands, and more. What draws you to the artistic use of wood like it does?

Patrick: I had a knack for it my whole life. My grandfather, who had worked on Howard Hughes’ Sprouse Goose, was a cabinet builder and, so I was around that at an early age. I loved the smell of the wood shop. Wood is fun to work with.

PJ: What do you look for or consider in selecting the wood pieces that you do? Where do you draw your design inspiration from, such as in creating a certain type of guitar body or neck?

Patrick: There are traditional wood species to start with for electric guitars, such as mahogany, maple, ash, alder, and rosewood. Search high and low for the lightest wood you can find, from the original manufacturers—and you own creativity.

PJ: You have now come up with the design and selected your pieces of wood for your next guitar project. What’s the next step in bring the guitar to life?

Patrick:  I start with the neck and fretboard, and then make the body. Depending on the instrument, I will either glue the neck into the body then finish the guitar, or paint them separately, then bolt the neck to the body.

PJ: What colors do you enjoy using with your guitars?

Patrick: I keep traditional colors on my mind—reds, yellows, ambers, browns, see-through tints and opaques, even complete custom colors. I use those colors, bend them a little (manipulate), and make hues of those colors that may be lighter or darker.

PJ: What feelings come up for you when you’ve finished an instrument?

Patrick: It’s very rewarding to plug it in and crank it. It is nice to hear something you make “speak” so loudly!

PJ: What should someone look for in choosing or selecting the right guitar for them?

Patrick:Feel, tone and weight. Or, you just plain like it.

PJ: What is the most challenging part of being a luthier?

Patrick: Completing things in a “timely fashion” to people expectations. Not all guitars take the same time to complete; sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances that keep you from maintaining a constant schedule.

PJ: What is the best part in being a luthier?

Patrick: The progress as you go—seeing the steps turning into the instruments.

PJ: Who are some of your most favorite guitar and bass players?

Patrick: On guitar: Pete Townsend, Rudolf Shenker, Alex Lifeson, G.E. Smith, Dave Mustaine, Kirk Hammet, Dimebag Darrel, Larry LaLond, Joe Satriani, G.E. Smith, Steve Vai, and the list goes on. On bass: Geddy Lee, Les Claypool, Cliff Burton, Flea, and other “funkers”—there’s lots of great bass players out there.

PJ: Among guitar-makers, past and present, whose instruments do you most admire?

Patrick: Orville Gibson, Leo Fender, Paul Bigsby, Semi Mosrite, Paul Reed Smith, Scott Lentz, Andy Powers, and other independent luthiers.

PJ: If you could give but one key piece of advice to someone considering learning the fine art of guitar-making, what would that be?

Patrick: Study the “big boys” to understand the means and methods used to build a guitar, because they set the standard. Initially, I found myself always taking apart my guitar to see how it worked—or why it didn’t—then, I would put it together and set it up. You might use those means and methods as a base for construction, to create your own ways to work with. Hone and refine it to a smooth operation. You always learn something new as you go.

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