Many guitar builders work for Fender creating one of a kind guitars. I always knew who the Fender Master Builders were, but I never knew how they actually became one. So I sought to find out how to become a Fender Master Builder.
To become a Fender Master Builder, applicants will need five or more years of experience building various aspects of guitars. Fender currently has a Guitar Building Academy available to current employees in the custom shop with the goal of training future Master Builders. Get a specialized job in the custom shop and take the Guitar Building Academy to learn the skills required to become a Fender Master Builder.
Continue reading to learn more about what it takes to become a Fender Master Builder and how much you can make as one.
What Do Fender Custom Shop Builders Do?
Fender Custom Shop Builders design and build high quality handmade guitars that are requested by the customer for a premium price. Throughout the building process, the Master Builders allow the customer to be as involved as they would like.
Almost everything is customizable for the customer and the builders job is to make the customers vision come to life. The customer can request certain colorways, relic or non-relic, roasted or non-roasted, etc. The possibilities are plentiful. The majority of customers request guitars that look like their idols guitars.
So why a custom shop guitar and not a traditional production guitar? When customers order a custom shop guitar, they are ordering a top of the line near perfect guitar. Each of the builders have years and years of experience, spending countless hours on each guitar to ensure it is as perfect as can be. Buying a custom shop guitars also allows you access to higher grade woods as well as whether or not you want the wood roasted. Roasting the wood is a relatively new practice that gets all or most of the moisture out of the wood and gives the guitar a true vintage sound. In conclusion, custom shop guitars are much higher quality then standard line guitars.
How to Become a Fender Master Builder
To become a Fender Master Builder, it is advised to have previous carpentry or guitar making experience. From there, get your foot in the door with a specialized job at the custom shop like inlays or painter to increase your skills and build relationships with the master builders.
For example, Ron Thorn is the principle Master Builder. In the 90’s, Fender recognized Ron as being one of the best inlay artists they had seen. He spent many years just doing inlay work for Fender before making the leap to Master Builder. In fact it was 10+ years of 12-16 hour days, 6 days a week. He developed guitar building skills in his free time, making his own guitar(s). Eventually progressing to become Master Builder and then Principal Master Builder.
One of the best ways to become a Master Builder is to become a Master Builder’s Assistant first. Currently there are numerous job listings for this title.
Some of the skills required for this role include:
- Knowledge of guitar construction
- Experience as a tune tester or builder at a guitar manufacturer
- Ability to buff and relic guitar bodies and necks
- Capability to shape and sand necks to specific specifications
- Ability to solder, wire, and assemble control circuits and pick guards
As you can see above, the skill set required to become even an assistant is vast. Although, many of these skills can be learned outside of working in the custom shop. Ron Thorn used to build his own guitars before working at Fender and is part of the reason why he got hired.
YouTube has greatly reduced the barrier to entry in terms of learning each skill required for this job. If the work gets put in, then the skills will develop and you will stand apart from the pack. Ron Thorn mentioned how:
In this industry, there are lots of opportunities. In guitar building, we have a little bit of difficulty finding skilled talent here at Fender.
Ron Thorn
Fender Guitar Building Academy
At the Fender Custom Shop, Ron has pioneered the Guitar Building Academy. With this new curriculum, Ron and fellow Master Builders are going to teach existing employees every single step of the guitar making process. From there they are aiming to promote from within. This demonstrates how it can be extremely beneficial to aim for a specialized job like a painter and learn the guitar building process from Fender.
If you are able to get a specialized job at the custom shop, gather that experience and then start asking for more tasks. The more skilled you become at each area, the higher your chances are of being promoted to a Master Builder or an assistant. You do not need a college degree to become a Master Builder, just a high school diploma. What you do need is hands on experience which can be achieved by specialized jobs at Fender and the Guitar Building Academy.
How Much Does a Fender Master Builder Make?
A Fender Master Builder make an average of $85,000 a year or $40 an hour. This is based on Fender’s Glassdoor self-reported salaries.
That being said, many of the Master Builders likely make much more than that. Artists pay an extremely high price for guitars with extra attention to them. Depending on which Master Builder the artist prefers, that is sure to tip the scale in terms of wage. The annual salaries of the Master Builders are not publicly reported but it can be expected they make upwards of six-figures depending on the year.
How Many Master Builders Does Fender Have?
Fender currently has eleven Master Builders working in the custom shop. In addition to the Master Builders, there are numerous other employees each specializing in a certain aspect of the custom guitar making process such as neck sanding, painting, electrical work, string set up, fretting, etc.
The majority of the Master Builders have spent decades working there. The majority of which were hired in the 90’s when Fender was ramping up the custom shop.
The Current Fender Master Builders Are:
- Dale Wilson
- Paul Waller
- Jason Smith
- Yuriy Shishkov
- Todd Krause
- Dennis Galuszka
- Greg Fessler
- Ron Thorn – Principal Builder
- Kyle McMillin
- Carlos Lopez
- Vincent Van Trigt
Who is The Best Fender Master Builder?
Ron Thorn is considered to be the best Fender Master Builder because of his inlay expertise and lineup design work. He has many years of experience with each avenue of the guitar making process making him a well versed guitar maker.
Many of the Fender Master Builders have their own specialties. All of them can make most types of customs, although, some are truly talented at a certain discipline. For example, John Cruz is the master of making relic guitars and custom wound pick ups. He is famous for making spot on Stevie and Jimmie Vaughan relic guitars as well as making John Mayer’s ‘Black One’. He was fired by Fender but he is still considered one of the best relic guitar makers that Fender had.
That being said, it is all opinion. Since the guitars are essentially being made from scratch, each one is different. And each builder makes them differently. Todd Krause has many professional guitar clients such as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Roger Waters, Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, and the list goes on.
The Fender Master Builders each relatively own their own business in terms of their clientele. They have their usual repeat customers that they make for and then there are the artists that they make for. The builders gain trust from artists as that is an essential quality to have as a guitar maker.
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