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These Pinball Guitars Are Incredible!
1.2k Plays13 days ago
Daniel Clark joins us from Cithara Guitars to talk about these fansinating guitar he makes for recycled pinball playfields. Check out his guitars here: citharaguitars.com
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Transcript
Introduction & Pokemon Pinball Discussion
00:00:07
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. I am Josh Roop. With me, my co-captain... Scott Larson. And Scott, it's been kind of a crazy time for pinball. And it's been pretty awesome. And if you want a Pokemon, who you calling?
00:00:19
Speaker
Yeah, I'll call Zach and I'll call many a Flippin' Out Pinball. And definitely, I think the LEs are gone. But if you want to get a pro or premium, it does look fantastic. This is a huge license. And...
00:00:30
Speaker
I'm actually really excited to get this game because it looks like a great entry-level game for people who who have never played pinball before to get into the the hobby. And with Tanya, you know, it's going to have deep code too. So even if you're an elite player, it's going to be great. So Zach and Nicole Mini flipping out pinball, also ah your accessories.
00:00:49
Speaker
And if you want used games too, reach them out. Definitely. Go check out their Facebook page and they have a whole list of everything they have in inventory right now. And Zach confirmed on pinball show that the whole first run is sold out for Pokemon.
00:01:02
Speaker
And the second run in June is starting to ah sell out as well. So yeah, I may need to get on the list. I I'm actually looking at getting a premium. So I, I need to, I need to put my name in, but we want to make sure you guys are taken care of first. So reach out to Zach and Nicole.
00:01:17
Speaker
Definitely.
Guest Introduction: Daniel Clark & 'Loser Kid' Guitar Concept
00:01:18
Speaker
We have an amazing guest on today. i met this man a couple of years ago and we had this brilliant idea of making a loser kid guitar. And I was so excited about this because I come from a music background. And so I reached out to him and he he was all gung-ho for this. And he's made these insane guitars out of play fields of pinball machines.
00:01:40
Speaker
And so I want to welcome onto the show, Daniel Clark. How are you doing, Daniel? I'm good, guys. Thanks so much for having me. This is great. I almost messed that up and said Daniel Sathara. Okay, where the name Sathara? Yeah, that's what I want to get into.
Origin of Sethera Guitars & Greek Inspiration
00:01:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no problem. Tell me about the guitar company that you have and tell me about the origin of the name.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, so Sethera is essentially Greek for guitar. Oh. Yeah, in a nutshell. So lots of um builders and smaller shops will always use sort of their name or an abbreviation of their name, Taylor and Fender and, um you know, Gibson and and stuff like that. PRS. Yeah, absolutely. They all they all typically do.
00:02:29
Speaker
When I was looking to start the shop, there were a few other um sort of smaller shops or or other custom shops that had my name or an abbreviation of my name or were using my initials too. And i thought, gosh, this is going to be...
00:02:46
Speaker
challenging even just to get a website and just to kind of get that space online when you're already fighting for domains. um So I put it out on Facebook actually and I said this if anybody has any suggestions I'm sort of all ears and a buddy of mine from from college actually came up with the idea and he said this is sort of what it is this is what it means um and I thought it was kind of neat. So With it sort of being of a Greek origin, um we first sort of started making models after Greek gods and goddesses, and we kind of pulled in the Greek mythology into the whole sort of theme of the company. So we've made a Poseidon and a Hades model, um an Aphrodite and a Zeus.
00:03:34
Speaker
um our Our telly line is sort of named the Pegasus line and the the logo for um the company is ah is a Pegasus as well too.
00:03:46
Speaker
I found that The name is hard for people to kind of get under their tongue initially, and it's a little hard for them to remember it, but they always remember the logo.
00:03:59
Speaker
So they'll they'll always sort of remember the Pegasus logo, and then the name kind of follows suit after that.
Daniel's Background in Music and Transition to Guitar Making
00:04:06
Speaker
So tell me, how did you decide, first off, I am taking a pinball machine and I'm chopping it up and turning into a guitar.
00:04:13
Speaker
And yeah did you always decide you want to be in guitar making or did you kind of fall into it? Hmm. Um, Guitar had always been a ah part of my life. I played guitar since i was about six years old. I think I was starting sort to take lessons.
00:04:30
Speaker
Always as a hobby and a pastime. Never really as ah a profession. um I was originally thinking of going to school for architecture and design.
00:04:43
Speaker
um Loved home building, i woodworking. i I had always done growing up out in the country. You're always kind of working on stuff and building things. And I can i know code, can build decks, can sort of build whatever. But my struggle was with the math and the the physics.
00:05:04
Speaker
I couldn't get them quick enough and I was always struggling with the theoretical part of it. And I thought this is going to be challenging if if I'm needing to get tutored this much and all this extra help to understand the concept to go into a profession like this. This could be challenging.
00:05:23
Speaker
And I don't know why I thought of it, but I thought I could look at music and I could look at guitar and sort of seeing what that might hold. so So I ended up going to school for music.
00:05:36
Speaker
I was a ah guitar a guitar student with the intention of sort of getting into studio work and doing recording studio stuff and being a session player. um And while I was at school, I discovered the whole world of custom guitar making and hot rodding and modding guitars. I had done stuff to my guitars here and there, but nothing of any substance.
00:06:01
Speaker
um But then I kind of found this industry and i was like, oh, this could be really cool. Sort of combining the... Love of the instrument, but then you have the design work, you have the building, you have the carpentry, you have the the woodworking. um So once I had finished my time, it was Mohawk College is where I went. and Once I had finished my time there, I looked for building schools like they're sort of independent sort of private type schools that you can get your certification as a builder. And the the terms of luthier is sort of like the trade, I guess.
00:06:41
Speaker
So I finished my time at the college. um I took a couple of business courses as well while I was there. And then I went to the Lado School of Luthery. And Lado guitars were really big in the 70s and eighty s More of a Canadian brand. um Sort of like big hair, big rock, like Iron Maiden, Honeymoon Suite, Platinum Blonde, that kind of stuff.
00:07:06
Speaker
um And... He was a master craftsman from Vienna or trained in Vienna from Croatia. So he had developed a program in a school to train builders and to sort of certify luthier sort of under his umbrella of company and of his name.
00:07:29
Speaker
So that was about four months or so um that I was there with him and we were five days a week, nine to five, building, repairing. um And I sort of got my certificate and stamp of approval from him and then went to go start my own shop.
00:07:47
Speaker
And I've since, I'm a fender technician, a tailor technician. So we're a warranty service shop for all of the big US brands here in Canada as well. So that's sort of how I sort of got into the industry.
First Pinball Playfield Guitar Project
00:08:03
Speaker
As for the pinball guitars, this idea was brought to us by ah a client who has now, who has since become a really good friend of ours. um And you guys met him at at the expo too. He was there with me at at the booth, Casey.
00:08:21
Speaker
and he had an old Fathom playfield that he had had for years and years and that he had done a ah playfield swap on. And he was a guitar player too, or is a guitar player too. And he said, hey, do you think this is something that we could do? i was like, oh man, we need to try because this could be this could be really cool. So we did the first one with him, and that was sort of our prototype to figure out if we could do it. And and it came out really well.
00:08:52
Speaker
um Obviously, a few things we wanted to to work on and sort of um sort of work the kinks out on. So from there, we kind of took four years to develop them to what you guys have behind you. and We were doing a few here and there, um but not pushing it anywhere near to the way that we are are now. So yeah, that's sort of how we how we
Showcase of Custom Guitars by Hosts
00:09:21
Speaker
got into this. There's a guy in
00:09:23
Speaker
There's another small builder that's doing some stuff and Fender did one too. um They did a one-off one, but nobody's really doing them the way that we're we're doing them.
00:09:35
Speaker
So Josh, why don't you, so now this is going to be a little visual. So we're going to post links ah to, okay, remind me how to pronounce it. Scythera. Scythera. Yeah.
00:09:48
Speaker
Scythera. So therea so we'll we'll show the guitars, but I want Josh to actually pull out. So Josh got an Earthshaker guitar. And so I want him to show it off and and try to ah to show exactly why he chose Earthshaker and and and what what cool things he did ah to it.
00:10:05
Speaker
So like it's Earthshaker. Why wouldn't you want an Earthshaker pinball guitar? you know it's um yeah If you know anything about classic guitars, like this blue slash like seafoam green is you know is just classic guitar color. And it matched so well. I know Daniel and I are worked closely on trying to match kind of the the aesthetic of what the the art was. And and the funny part is one of the reasons they landed on earth shaker is because if you look here in the center it has a gentleman with a black hair and then the girl that's blonde and they're right out and paint cadillac and my wife's like that's kind of like us and so it just kind of stuck either fun another funny part too it says flip out as the license plate
00:10:50
Speaker
But I mean, it's just, I saw this and I've always wanted a Les Paul. And I was like, this just looks, screams Les Paul me. And when i reached out to Daniel, he's like, yes, 100%. Like that's, and even at one point, I think we bounced a little bit. I was like, really?
00:11:04
Speaker
Do you think a telly would be better? You're like, no, no this is meant to be a Les Paul, you know? Yeah. And some certainly definitely lend themselves to, to certain body styles. And, and that was a Les Paul. Same, same with, same with yours though, Scott.
00:11:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so and I'll show mine off. oh go if Finish up, Josh. now i'll show mine so So we kind of kept all the old vintage-y of it um with the the the posts that, you know, the play field stayed rough and whatnot. ah But the I love how much you were willing to customize this because I wanted, i come from more of a punk slash metal background, and so I wanted the humbuckers, but also I still wanted a split coil to get that, that,
00:11:46
Speaker
that feel of maybe like a, a Stratocaster or whatever on at the bridge. And you were like, yeah, not a big deal. Like we can, whatever you want to do. And you know, um it just, i don't know It came out great. It sounds wonderful. The other thing I love about too, is it like the weight of it is good too.
00:12:05
Speaker
ah One thing I do get, i don't I don't know how many people listening have played with Les Pauls, but they can be kind of heavy and chunky. And this doesn't feel like that at all. And then you guys were nice enough, too. You got Pat Lawler beside the back of it, too, next to his name. I mean, you guys did such ah just an amazing job on this guitar all the way around. It just feels so professional, so well. I mean, you guys are professionals. I mean, it's just this is amazing.
00:12:31
Speaker
It really, truly is. You guys did a great job with it. Thanks. And I think like a big thing that we're really proud of um with those guitars is that they like we are a custom shop through and through.
00:12:45
Speaker
We are we are a full fledged custom shop. We build right from rough cut lumber um through to finishing and assembly. It's all done in house. It's all custom
Sourcing Pinball Playfields for Guitars
00:12:55
Speaker
spec to what the client is looking for. And these pinball guitars are they're no different. um I always remember I used to, and I still do watch like Orange County choppers and stuff like that, where they would do those bikes for companies and they looked awesome and they're really cool and they do the big display and stuff.
00:13:18
Speaker
I heard a lot of the times there were always issues with them like they they were sort of falling apart or they weren't really road worthy they were definitely more of a showpiece and i never wanted that for these guitars like these really are a guitar first and they're a custom shop guitar first and the play fields are an added little bonus on top like it yeah they're so we build them out how how guys want them. Same with like the inlays on the fingerboard there. We'll do the custom inlay work. And that's of of the the logo of the podcast too. yeah um
00:13:59
Speaker
There's a shot of it right there. And and I was over the moon when you guys said, yeah, we we could do that like let me yeah Well, first off, you said, let me let me see if I can do it because you're like you didn't want to make any promises. But it came out. It just came out so perfect. girl but Yeah, it's so cool.
00:14:15
Speaker
yeah and and And to me, like I grew up in 2000s rock and stuff like that. so it that was kind of when they started doing fret work like this right like having the custom inlay and i always remember like ryan from a story of the year he had like heart done across his and i was like it would always be cool to have a custom guitar with a custom inlay like that so when you said yeah let's do it i was like really like you you sealed the deal it was wonderful yeah i know they're so they're so cool and even with the color too like We try to pick a color that complements the play field or that's from the play field. um
00:14:53
Speaker
And that blue was great because it was it's prominent, but it's not overpowering like the green or or that even that darker blue that's there. um Because sometimes through that... that takes away from the guitar when the color's like a little bit too overpowering um and we mix all the colors like it is yeah it's a i guess kind of like a daphne blue but it's a it's a custom color because we tinted it and and sort of tweaked it a little bit to get it as close as we could to what was on that that play field there yeah and and you matched it great i think it yeah it turned out even it's hard to see in the video but like it's on the back you kind of
00:15:33
Speaker
antiqued it and so it has more of a crackly feel to it you know yeah because and that's that's all intentionally done because the play fields that we get are all salvaged they're all from games that have been re-topped or had play field swaps done to them so they've got years and years and years of gameplay on them and like scott's especially like scott's is worn you can them there okay i'm gonna show you mine now and the thing i do love about it
00:16:06
Speaker
is it is silver ball mania and I love the art. It's very seventies pinball over the top. um It is interesting because my, my, even when my wife's out, she's like, what's with the naked people on there? I'm like, no, they're silver people.
00:16:25
Speaker
okay so that's why she kept, she let me keep it. But if you look at it, it's, it's worn here. It looks so amazing. And it has the lights that you, ah now the cool thing about these lights, talk about that because yeah you have, ah like mine actually cycles through it. i think mine had more inserts than you typically work with.
00:16:47
Speaker
Mine says Silver Balmania yeah and it cycles through Silver Balmania, 3X, 4X, 5X, and then when lit. And there's even just a lot of awesome things that,
00:16:59
Speaker
the the back part is so is really cool is it's also part of the play field and you can see these little touches that are amazing and yes mine does have the the loser kid logo right there too yeah ah a really cool thing about your um play field was that we got it and it didn't have any of the light inserts yeah they were all blank um So we looked at lots of different ways of ah how what like how we could fix this or if it was to find another play field that had more lights in it. um
00:17:38
Speaker
What we ended up doing in the end was recreating all of the artwork for those lights. So the all of the letters and all of the graphics are pulled from an artwork package that you can get for the game. yeah And then we um we have inserts that we can replace ah for for broken inserts. So we created all of the missing artwork and then it's UV printed onto the lights. And then we've aged and relicked the plastic and the printing on it so that it matches kind of the patina that's on the play field already because you can have brand new lights in there.
00:18:23
Speaker
um So that it looks, I mean, i think um a diehard pinball fanatic might realize that it's not exactly the original, but I mean, you can be a couple inches away from it and and you'd be hard pressed to to tell the difference.
00:18:43
Speaker
um Same with the backs. Like we we relic the backs of the guitars to make it look and sort of feel the same age as what the play field is. um some, some are more worn out than others. Um, and we kind of make the paint and stuff match the the play field.
00:19:03
Speaker
I, I, okay. By the way, I didn't even know that you replaced the insert. So that yeah that's pretty amazing right there. yeah yeah I'm learning about this right now. Yeah. And the cool thing about that is because it doesn't limit what play fields you can actually use for these guitars.
00:19:21
Speaker
So if you find a guitar, if you find a play field, mean, that's kind of the limiting factor really. So the good thing about us, i we actually went through your existing play fields and i I,
Pinball Expo Launch & Feedback
00:19:32
Speaker
chose silver ball. actually, that's the, this is the one I wanted when I, when I first heard about what we were thinking of doing and,
00:19:40
Speaker
But you can do it with other play fields. Like, for example, we ah we saw that you did a custom guitar out of a Jersey Jack um Guns N' Roses play field. Yep.
00:19:53
Speaker
And so we saw that. and And my friend John was really interested in doing this. And we were able to figure out a way of finding a ah discarded play field that he purchased, a Guns N' Roses one. So he's getting a Guns N' Roses guitar for me.
00:20:12
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And so we were at um Pinball Expo this year. this was So this year was sort of like our big launch of these guitars. we've We sort of...
00:20:24
Speaker
Became a little bit more active on on Pinside Forum. And then we thought, if we're going to try to take these guitars to market, let's take it to market. And let's take it to where the people are and and the fans of pinball. And it's either going to go really well or it's going to go really bad. And thankfully, it went really well. And and the guitars were really well received. um All of the manufacturers that were there.
00:20:53
Speaker
all kind of had caught wind that we were going to be there as well too. So they did come over and sort of make a point to say hi. And we were working um with the guys from Jersey Jacks um on that Guns N' Roses, ah that first GNR one that we did. So they kind of knew who we were too. And,
00:21:12
Speaker
They've all said to us, like, there are so many play fields that are a second or they're a ding and dent and like we can't use them because they can't put them in the games.
00:21:22
Speaker
um And you're more than welcome to them. And almost every release of a game has ding and dents or seconds or stuff that can't be used. So it's just tracking them down and and sort of building the network to give us the connections to to find them.
00:21:40
Speaker
but um Yeah, so so we can
Upcoming Projects: Evil Knievel & More
00:21:43
Speaker
go that way. And even some of the... the We've gotten stuff from CPR, too. And they'll we'll get the reproduction sent up to us.
00:21:51
Speaker
um Or guys will pull them like it We get them sent up to us just from guys' personal collections all the time, too. um that That they've done a ah restoration job and they've got the play field and they they send it up to us.
00:22:05
Speaker
What game do you think would probably... What's one that you haven't done yet that you think would do great as a guitar? We have a lot on the on the docket for this year. um Evil Knievel, you can sort of see behind me there. It's always it's always great. Like if we could just make 100 of those, we'd be selling them every day. They're there.
00:22:28
Speaker
People really are drawn to those. So they always make a great one. um the the gnr one's a good one too um it's complicated because it's new and there's so many lights and stuff in it we've got um one on the books that is um oh shoot i'm gonna screw up centigrade 37 centigrade that's great that's great 37 yep that's that's a rare one yeah Yeah. And like, it's going to be awesome. Again, fits fits a junior style, like a Les Paul style. Um, we also have another one
00:23:07
Speaker
that is, uh, Knight Rider. hmm. um And it's just cool colors. it it So we have these um templates in the shop and um we can like kind of like viewfinders that we can place on the play fields and kind of figure out the nicest area to to locate the guitars on. And it is just got really cool colors. You've got the the trucks on the roads coming down. um So it's a really neat one, too. So sort of same as the soccer one behind me. Like if you saw the game like this is boring, like this is just not a and and a nice looking game. It's pretty bare bones.
00:23:49
Speaker
But Even if they've just got really cool colors and like organic shapes and stuff like they can make really cool guitars. um There's another one too. I don't remember what is, but I do like the old pinup girl stuff too. I think the old pinup girl and bomber girl stuff is, is really cool. And we've got a couple of those in inventory. I don't remember what they're, they're called though, but yeah. Yeah.
Unique Custom Guitars: Shark Anime Inspiration
00:24:16
Speaker
There's lot. There's tons. There's tons.
00:24:18
Speaker
You have posted a guitar about three weeks ago. That's absolutely insane. And It's a shark guitar. Have you seen this Scott? I did. actually, so I, we were all seeing the same thing because when we reached out and we were like, okay, Dan, we, we have the guitars now. We've been talking about this. This is a great time to come on. And then we were all like, yeah, I i saw the shark guitar. i thought it really cool. Cool. ah yeah And this was like a reproduction, right? Because this was a limited, show it was a limited guitar from Japan.
00:24:53
Speaker
And it was unavailable now. And so you were able to do a recreation of it. Tell me about that. Yeah. ah Honestly, like there's not really much we can't do.
00:25:06
Speaker
We give us enough time to kind of figure it out. We can, we can pull it together. So this was a project that came to us a couple of years ago, honestly. um And it's from a, a Japanese anime show called one piece. Yeah.
00:25:20
Speaker
And one of the characters in the show plays this shark guitar. And I guess there was a ah factory in China that decided to produce a limited run of them. And they are nowhere to be found anymore. They're sold out. They're not on the used market. They're just there.
00:25:40
Speaker
I guess everybody who has them has them and is holding on to them. So um the client approached us and said, iss is this something you think you can do? and we honestly we tried to sort of talk them out of it because we knew the scope of what this was going to be and the challenges we were going to face with this and we thought maybe we could find one somewhere for you and like restore it or or sort of bring it up to a standard that makes it a nice playing guitar and stuff and we couldn't so we sort said okay well let's let's sort of have at it so um we were able to find a lot of drawings and pictures of the guitar online and from that we built the guitar so it's kind of built around a strat body and strat specs it's loosely a strat guitar with sort of the shape of the shark um
00:26:32
Speaker
But there was enough information online that we could kind of sort of build it out the way that we needed to and the way that it would function like a guitar. That's the big thing. Like they can look cool, but they still have to be a guitar. Like they still have to play. They still have to be able to so function.
00:26:46
Speaker
But yeah, it was it was tough. It was it was a good year and a half to get this thing pulled together for these guys. What you're saying to like even the fin off the bottom of the guitar actually doesn't go straight down and actually scoops.
00:27:02
Speaker
Yeah. Outward and stuff too. It was just not straightforward. ah Oh, absolutely. Yeah. So the fin is like it's I mean, the guitar is three dimensional sort of stupid thing to say. But ah yeah, the fin like scoops up and out from the guitar like it's supposed to. and um that like the teeth are all carved in. like We manufactured parts for this thing. we were like The eyes are um all this turned resin. and there's like a it On the original guitar, I think it was like a speaker, but we weren't, we weren't doing, doing that, but we had to recreate the speaker type function. And, um, yeah, it was, it was, uh, the, the pickups were custom too. Um, because the the cavity for them was so tight, they had to be certain tolerances and certain dimensions to be able to fit.
00:27:51
Speaker
Um, yeah, so it was, um, it was ah It was wild. It came together great, though. like we were We were really happy with the end result, and the client was super happy with it, too. It's gotten a great great reaction online. We were talking about that just beforehand there, just wild how things can kind of pop off, and this is this has popped for us a little bit, so that's kind of nice, too.
Ordering Process for Custom Guitars
00:28:17
Speaker
So when someone's thinking about doing stuff like this, how would they go about doing that would they try to source their own would they contact you and say hey i have an idea for a guitar um what is the best way if people are are thinking about a project like that to to commence at that it's it's just to reach out and then we kind of can guide you through the the process from there so um Some guys will have like they'll have a play field in hand and they say, hey, I've got this this play field.
00:28:50
Speaker
I want to build a guitar. And I say, OK, we'll help you like we'll help with the shipping and get it sent up here. um And then once we get the play field in our hands, we can kind of look at it and and see what might work. We give you possibilities of of layouts and and then we kind of take it from there. and We have an inventory of play fields as well, too, I think.
00:29:13
Speaker
probably close to 30. Yeah. And there yeah and i was looking online, like i I was reviewing while we were talking and yeah there's, there's a, a lot of, in a lot of more of the like the fifties and sixties style, which are kind of fun. Lots, lots. And, and honestly we have, um,
00:29:29
Speaker
I think another 15 or so that aren't on the website yet. If you're, you're scrolling right now. um Yeah, there's a lot of cool ones that we've got and we just haven't had a moment to to put them up. So, so people could just say they could look through our inventory and say they want to do XYZ play field or we can help you try to find one.
00:29:51
Speaker
Like we've we've sort of been able to develop the networks over the last several years of um salvage guys and and guys sort of that restore play fields and repair play fields and even and even um the the manufacturers. So we can sort of try to we can try to track one down. It's not always a guarantee, but we can certainly look.
00:30:14
Speaker
So what's ah what's the future for you going forward? where you What's the goal and the plan? Right now we're trying to just get through all of the builds that we have gotten pre-booked from ah from the the expo.
00:30:29
Speaker
um how How many did you get? I'm out of curiosity because you guys were pretty busy. Josh and I stopped by a few times and even my son was but because it's been fun because my family's been getting into guitar. So we have about two years of like my kids have been taking it. And then about last year I said, well, why don't I take? So I've been taking guitar for the last year. So it's been fun to very cool get into it. But yeah, it's so he, he got down and he was playing it and he thought they were really cool. So, so how, how, how many orders did you get?
00:31:03
Speaker
so it, i was x I was hoping we would get a ah couple there. um We knew it would sort of be a slow burn because people weren't really expecting to see us at the show because we'd never been there before. We didn't have a huge presence in the industry or in the market. So...
00:31:24
Speaker
I was kind of expecting the first day people would come and see us. They get really pumped about it. They would go back home, think about it. They'd come back and see us on the Saturday. They'd think about it some more. And then Sunday would sort of be the big day for us.
00:31:40
Speaker
um which it that was kind of how it how it worked out we had a we had a couple guys on the first day put some deposits down and then they kind of continued through the the weekend and then quite a few on the back end once we got home um guys were sort of sending us emails i think we got about 12 or so on the books from the show um which is Which is great for us. like That's impressive. how How long does it take to go from start to finish? So if someone is interested in getting something like this, what is the expected lag time on this?
00:32:17
Speaker
yeah so right now we're booked we're pre-booked almost to the end of the year right now so most of our most of the orders that are coming in now are slotted for the fall so you can you can pretty much if it's a if it's a pinball build you can pretty much guarantee a six month wait on it and then we're close to a six month build time we sort of block four to six months for a build time Also depends on how complicated the build is. um If it's if the play field something wild or if there's lots of lights on it or or how customized we're going with it, that can take longer. But that's that's sort of a good ballpark.
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah, because we were talking earlier because you did. um oh no it's blanking my mind now that I'm going to bring it up. The black and white play field, the, uh, the monster. the centar centar Yes. Centaur has quite the centerpiece with all these lights and stuff like that.
Challenges in Guitar Lighting Customization
00:33:17
Speaker
Yeah. And so it's hard to navigate that versus, you know, soccer that you have behind. you Right. Cause you still have the center of the play field still has, you know, ah all the, all the strings and the bridges and all the, uh, Yeah.
00:33:29
Speaker
Yeah. and And the whole lighting package is that's been a ah big developmental piece for us as well, too. um We've gone through many different iterations of our controller boards and figuring out what what works and what doesn't. So, for example, like we know that we can only be within a certain proximity to the pickups because if not, we get interference.
00:33:53
Speaker
We also have learned that how we route the wires and and the wire paths that we sort of take all those wires is also important because if they get too close to components, they start to to make noise.
00:34:06
Speaker
Also to like each of those lights, um they're like an an individual or a separate output. Like we can't use um or what's it called? Like those, address I think they're called ah addressable LEDs because they're chained but then they also make a ton of noise which we didn't and not a lot like and we had sort of chatted with other people about this too and never thought that the noise was going to be an issue so um yeah the lights are the lights can be very ah tricky but we've got it we've got it down to a pretty good science now and are pretty confident with what what we can do and how we can do it and
00:34:49
Speaker
some And that's also part of the layout that we just know. Sorry, like you can't light that up because it's too close to a pickup or we're going to drill through this with ah with a locate hole. So that's not going to work either. But we go, we map it all out and and give you renderings and stuff too. So, you you know, ahead of time.
00:35:08
Speaker
Well, what I love what you guys did too is like Casey was talking to me a lot about my guitar because he worked with you guys. He worked closely with you on it. yeah And like even because mine actually is a feature that has two different light patterns. And yeah, one that's more single light. And then this one has more of a double light to it. Right. But it was funny because like both of yours do.
00:35:28
Speaker
yes really i think scott does as well so if you yeah if you pull on the light switch it should or pull you pull it like you would like the tone or something like that and like either the volume or the tone and it'll change the pattern oh really i didn't know that Yeah, so we call you're learning something new today i am ah we called it a a show mode and a and a play mode. Yes. um Because we we, one of the other things that we learned is that we can't have more than one light fire at the same time because there's too much signal or current and it makes ah a ticking sound.
00:36:07
Speaker
So when, so with, with your guys, it was the first one we tried it on, to be honest, because what all this could be really cool because some guys like, obviously you want to play it and you are playing the guitar, but there's also some guys that just want to have it as a showpiece and they'll hang it up beside the game on their wall in their game
Guitars as Instruments and Art Pieces
00:36:27
Speaker
room. Um, and they, they use them as, as sort of an, uh, as an art piece to compliment the guitar or the play field or the pinball game.
00:36:36
Speaker
Um, yeah so so Yeah, so the show mode is a little bit more of the firing multi lights at the same time, different patterns, a little bit more pinball-esque. um And the play mode is one light at a time following in a sequence that we know will not make noise.
00:36:59
Speaker
ah Well, not only that, you you guys did it because like it's like, well, if you ever decide to use this in the studio or whatever, it's like, I'd never thought of that. You know what I'm saying? But you get yeah you get recording artists that love these machines or these these guitars and they want to use them on because they love the sound and they they want it on the record and it's like yeah you know it's it's just funny that it's like i'd never thought of more than one light would create a ticking sound through a recording we didn't even we didn't even think it was a a thing and we tested like we test them here in the shop and we've got decent amps but we don't have it cranked and So we were doing a ah delivery and it was to an artist at um an amphitheater, like several thousands of seat theater, like outdoor, outdoor amphitheater.
00:37:52
Speaker
And he plugged it in, turned it on, it sounded like a friggin machine gun going off in the place. I'm like, oh, my God, like we can't do this. Like it was terrible. But but we didn't hear it because we didn't have it loud enough. So it is definitely like a volume thing, too. Oh, gosh, that was that was wild.
00:38:19
Speaker
You're like, just leave it turned off for tonight on the lights. We'll fix it, but you can't turn those lights on tonight because it was so bad. like we it was It wasn't wild, but we had like quick patterns and a couple of lights. are like to And just honestly was bad. We're playing all the songs at ah and a 120 BPM tonight so we can keep in time with the clicking of the guitar. Yeah.
00:38:45
Speaker
like it tick a tick Yeah. And it, but that was the thing too. Like it went to their in-ears, like the tick was audible in their ears. So you've got a click track, you've got stuff and you're hearing this tick, tick, tick, tick. tick tick tickt tack That's like just random off the background.
00:39:02
Speaker
Yeah. But, uh, not a problem anymore. Yeah. oh okay well i'm glad you worked that out because yeah yeah yeah now you have you have pictures so ed robertson has one of bare naked ladies it's a yeah it's a dolly parton one yeah ed's got two and yeah so um his was one of the one of the first guitars that we did after we did the fathom like our first prototype one um And so his his first one we did was the Quicksilver.
00:39:33
Speaker
And full disclosure, it was Ed's that sounded like a machine gun. Yeah, we took it to one of those shows. and He plays big shows. Yeah, yeah. They're popular. That was the thing. That was the thing. We just hadn't put it through that type of a sound system before.
00:39:51
Speaker
um Okay, so we are you are in Canada. So and there are other you are near... rush baby like why don't you call up alex lifeson and say hey uh why don't you get a guitar from us yeah yeah yeah so we are we are a canadian shop and we're we're near toronto um that's where rush is from yeah yeah and ironically we are doing a rush build not for rush um but yeah we are doing a rush build which will be pretty cool um there's a couple and they've done um work getty lee's done stuff getty lee and alex lifeson have done some work with a another shop that we know uh in the area too so it's a it's a thing it's definitely a possibility um just hasn't sort of come together yet well they're on tour this summer so i bet you know just tell them to borrow mine
00:40:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
Potential Collaborations with Famous Musicians
00:40:47
Speaker
ah I'm going to go see him and in LA. Oh, nice. Cool. I'm sure. I'm sure. hey you know, if they give me a backstage pass, then I'll go. I'll let him play my guitar. There you go.
00:40:57
Speaker
Yeah. Know what Scott's doing. He's going to be making some calls and yeah to show up with a rush guitar, you know, kate ironically. So we actually know someone who does know Alex Lyson.
00:41:11
Speaker
So the, uh, I, I'm sure, I'm sure Dan does too, but also do you remember Steve Govea who did my, my iron maiden, uh, anything he actually, yeah yeah he is a professional player too. And cool he was in, you know, he was in, ah Jersey boys and he, he plays all, he plays, you know, obviously exceptionally well. And so he, uh,
00:41:35
Speaker
He actually, ah maybe we'll ask Steve if Alex wants to have a, yeah to have a custom guitar. Cause that'd be awesome. Yeah. It's, it it's funny. Like they always, it it always comes together. Eventually it, it just sometimes takes a bit of time.
00:41:50
Speaker
Okay. I actually do want to get a little bit back to some of the customization. so Yeah, absolutely. Josh, obviously, has been in a band. He's a big guitar player. He knows his stuff.
00:42:01
Speaker
I do not. i am I'm learning guitars, and so I've been playing for about a year and a half. And when you were asking me about the customization process, ah process You know, he's like, okay, so what do you want for the neck? What do you want for, ah for all this? You know, what what, do you want for the pickups? What do you want? And I actually told you, Hey, um, you're the expert here. So I want to know what your recommendations are. So Josh, I think you went with a humbuckers. Is that right? Am I getting that right?
00:42:29
Speaker
Yes, you're going, you're correct. I went with Seymour Duncan, mayhem humbuckers. and the top one can split it has a split coil in it. Okay, that's a lot of fancy things. I don't know anything what you just said.
00:42:42
Speaker
but Okay, so Dan, talk about the ones you put in mind because you said they were they were customized from the the local thing, and I'll even pull them up and kind of show them. You said it's it's from ah someone who's really close to you guys, so I thought that was a really cool touch. Are they?
00:42:58
Speaker
um I thought um they they could be. i don't i don't remember off the top of my okay head. um I do know that we built Josh's as more, a little bit more on that hard rock metal side. um And yours we were building more as a really nice kind of all around player.
00:43:22
Speaker
um And that's like, you're not the only one. Like we get players from all walks of life and we definitely get guys that will come in that are very um call it analytically based. They know the specs of what they want. They know the neck profiles and the fingerboard radiuses. They know what they want the guitar to weigh. They know what hardware they want to do. And they're very sort of Yeah, call it analytically based that way. We get other guys that come in and it's a feel thing. They're like, I like i want warm tones. I want a nice finish. I want it to be this color palette. I want it to sound this way. And they're definitely that's sort of how they describe the guitars. And um
00:44:13
Speaker
And then we kind of get people that don't necessarily have a preference, but sort of know what they don't like. And then from that, we can kind of direct them and and build the guitar out that way and kind of direct the decisions and sort of give you options that we can then pull the information that we need out of. And it's it's important to us. Like,
00:44:36
Speaker
all of us are players here at the shop and, and we've all been playing a really long time. So we understand when a guy says like, I just want it to feel this way. I want to have a really nice snap to it. Or I want that like real telly twang. And we're like, okay, that's fine. Like we'll, we'll go for that. That's, and we, and we kind of know what they're after. um And that's, what's really cool about these pinball guitars too, is because Pinball players are a lot of pinball players are guitar players as both of you guys are and as most of the clients are that we've been dealing with.
00:45:11
Speaker
So that's that's a really cool um synergy and i a nice marriage there. We but we do get some and we've gotten some orders that it is strictly showpiece for them to go as part of their collection with the game. And that's totally fine. Like have nothing against that because I i appreciate that piece too.
00:45:32
Speaker
And then we just get players and pros that have no real affinity to the pinball world, but they love the artwork piece or they love the colors or they love that it's different. Or a lot of guys um used to have those old evil Knievel toys like that wind up motorcycle toys and their kids are like that guitar speaks to so many people. So Some people just like it for the artwork and that it's something different, which is also really cool because
00:46:05
Speaker
you can always have more guitars but it's sometimes tough to sell a telly to a guy that already has two tellies he's like okay like yes yours are different but like what really makes them that much different but it's so easy to sell this guy is like oh i don't have one of those yet and that nobody else has one of those yet so that's like an easy it's a it's an easier sell Because it's something really unique um that people don't but that they don't have.
00:46:40
Speaker
Well, and in my opinion too, you guys are at a very sweet price point. And so and i felt like you gave a lot of option of where you could start off on the bass and go all the way up to like the top tier.
00:46:55
Speaker
And coming from a guy that's been in guitars for years and seeing that, like i mean obviously you deal with Fender, you know, there's the bottom tiers, there's what three, and then there, kind of switches over to the actual Fender brand, you know, it goes from Squire to Fender.
00:47:10
Speaker
And it's like, there's, I think there's a total of what, like seven from base all the way up. And the price range is just wild, you know? Yeah. And then you get into their custom shop too. And then that's just like an endless, like you just write a blank check and see what happens kind of thing. Yeah. And and you guys have done fantastic on making a very custom product that feels really, really good.
00:47:35
Speaker
Like it feels very comparable to, I would say, a higher-end Fender or any any of that product. And it's at that price point that you guys offer, it's just...
00:47:46
Speaker
you're not getting this anywhere else. Like it's just, you guys have done very, very well on balancing everything out with the guitar, with, with everything. That's things. Yeah. And, and we've tried and it's been, um it was very and intentional because, um we knew we needed to kind of hit a sort of a price range that people would be comfortable with. And, um,
00:48:12
Speaker
what's nice is that our shop is a custom shop so we're not really set up to do big production runs of things we're set up to do short runs and and one-offs and that's kind of how we operate so that's what we're geared up to do um But yeah, yeah we we were pretty aware of of pricing and being able to offer um options for Kaisers.
00:48:39
Speaker
when we first started these, um the sort of the call it the base price was just using the play field as the top, but no lights. um And it was just sort of the artwork piece.
00:48:53
Speaker
the The second tier up was... with the lights but just being an on and off function. So the lights would just turn on and and turn off with a switch. And then the top tier was having the programmed lights like you guys have.
00:49:07
Speaker
And we found that Whoever ordered um either just the the the base package or the second second tier up with just the lights on and off, they were always disappointed that they didn't go all the way.
00:49:24
Speaker
that For the extra couple hundred dollars, much that they've come back and bought it. that they've come back and bought and a second guitar because they needed it to have the lights. So, so so tell me the, rain i mean the nice thing is you're dealing with a, with pinball people and pinball people. We know about the range. And this is what I get every time. And I'm sure Josh gives deals with this too. When people ask, okay, that they always come over, they always say the same thing, huh?
00:49:59
Speaker
they still make these, right? That's the first question, right? Yeah. yeah And then they come over and play and they pause and they're like, so how much does one of these cost?
00:50:10
Speaker
And like my answer is, well, okay. So here's a range. It's just like a car. So you have, you know, you have the, the, you, and I always tell people you want to buy a game that functions. You don't want to buy a fixer upper. So finding something that's like a 3000 to a $6,000 used game is is probably a good thing. And then you get into like the new game, new, and new inbox prices. You get the pro premium LE and, Depending on know, that's the Stern model, but you also have, ah you know, the, um you know, the JJPs and you have the CGCs and, you you know, the Spookies and all that.
00:50:44
Speaker
So tell me about what kind of range are people expecting if they call and they say, hey, we want to get a guitar. What is the, what is the range?
00:50:54
Speaker
yeah and and so we have shrunk that range a little bit um where we can offer you um sort of the the guitar with just the topper but we really don't recommend it the guitars are 3800 us and that's fully loaded as you guys have it programmed lights custom custom features custom hardware inlay um the custom specs. um
00:51:27
Speaker
Half the price of a pro or three toppers. Well, and that's what's great because those games are so expensive. like it's it's ah It's a cool market to be in because you are the the clients are a little bit more um acclimatized to the price point of what the pinball games run. So when when we're at like Yeah, a fancy topper. Like that's not, it's not too bad. It's a nice add on. and And I think that's why some people, they treat it that way. Like um they're like, oh, this is a really nice piece to add to the game that nobody else is going to have.
00:52:07
Speaker
And and they're they' ah they're true. Nobody else will have them. But yeah, we're 3,800
00:52:14
Speaker
which is amazing in my opinion like i said like thanks looking at looking at the fenders and stuff like that like their base even their their american made started like what 12 1400 and then it's like you could get easily five six thousand on these you know yeah absolutely and i think uh yeah like a custom shop builds easily five grand um I think part of what partially works in our favors that we're a Canadian shop. So we definitely do ah take advantage of the exchange rate.
00:52:44
Speaker
Right. Cause it's a, yeah, it, which it like it. So for our Canadian customer, like it works out to five grand Canadian ish or yeah, around there. That's, that's great actually for a custom guitar. Are you kidding me?
00:52:59
Speaker
yeah yeah i mean in it like don't i don't want anybody to sort of get the wrong opinion like there's no shortcomings of those guitars like there's yeah we don't sort of skip over anything they're not they're no these are all le's they're not pros yeah Yeah, they're great. they're they're yeah absolutely You can say those other brands are all McDonald's brands and you guys are the Gordon Ramsay of guitars. I would say that. Yeah. I'd say wegan we hold our own with any other ah big American brand, any custom shops. like There's...
00:53:33
Speaker
we're fine. Like, and we've had many people sort of say the same thing too, that it's comparable with any other high-end boutique, um, shop, whether it's a s sir or, or something like that. Um, yeah, yeah. They're, they're really cool. We're, so we're really, um, happy and proud of sort of how they've all come together and sort of what we've been able to create with these ones. Like it's, it's cool stuff.
00:53:58
Speaker
Considering I just, and so I just upgraded my acoustic
Uniqueness & Affordability of Custom Guitars
00:54:01
Speaker
guitar. And yes, it's when you're looking at Taylor guitars, which is what I bought and they have guitars that, you know, the entry ones that are a thousand dollars, but they haven't that go up to like $10,000. Oh yeah. Easy, easy, easy. And more and more. And yeah so I, so I got one that was nice, but not too nice. This, you only have one level. You have Super nice. That's what you're offering. Super nice, but not super expensive. Super nice at a reasonable price for a custom art project. Absolutely. there um So fender the Fender Custom Shop did a pinball guitar.
00:54:40
Speaker
like 2018 maybe like or 2015 or something like that and they did uh a pinball wizard and i think they've got it up for sale for like 18 or 20 000 or something like that like it's yeah yes well even like those like prs the custom dragon ones and like the the custom shops i do Those were like 22,000 or higher. and it's like Yeah, like the private stock reserve or builder reserve. Yeah, private reserve. Oh, yeah, they're wild. crazy It's crazy. I could talk guitars all night. but wait We did. If you want someone to get all hold of you, what's the best way to get hold of you?
00:55:18
Speaker
um However, they can find us. So our website is citharaguitars.com and there's a contact page. Spell that out. Spell that out. Yeah. It's a C-I-T-H-A-R-A guitars with an S.
00:55:34
Speaker
um and then all of our social media handles is the same it's just at satara guitars and um there's you can direct message us there's a phone number there that you can call me anytime it's a direct line to me so it's um you're gonna get me or it'll get to me at some point but um yeah however however you want to find this, you can, you probably can. And it'll, I, I try to get back to everybody as soon as I can. And, um, yeah, that's probably the best way.
00:56:07
Speaker
And if you want to get ahold of us, we are loser kid pinball podcast at gmail.com. You can find us on all the socials at loser kid pinball. Uh, if you want to rep our merch, like the hockey Jersey, you know, those are feeling a little pride. Yeah. Yeah. I like the beanies too. They're nice. Uh, silver ball swag.com slash loser kid. Um,
00:56:26
Speaker
Yeah, thanks again, Daniel. This was fantastic. Like, seriously, it's like a dream come true. Oh, guys, thanks for having me. I'm i'm so glad that you reached out and and we were able to do this project. Like, there are those guitars are good. Yeah, I love them both. And I'm glad we were able to sort of make ah tonight work too and get all our schedules aligned. And it's been it's been great chatting with you.
00:56:49
Speaker
Definitely. Scott, give us our last words. You know what? We may actually be getting a special play field that we may be getting some more guitars heading your way. So this is a teaser. We'll get back to you on that. So either way, ah love ah thank you guys for listening and we'll catch you on the next one.
00:57:13
Speaker
Thank you.