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About Tim Reede It's hard to remember when I first became interested in the guitar because as long as I can remember music has been present. As a child in the sixties I remember hearing guitar music that opened a whole new dimension of expression. Bands like Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix and Crosby Stills Nash and Young were amazing. Mason Williams doing Classical Gas or Santana, it was impossible for anyone not to be moved by this music. The more I listened, the more I was interested. This attraction has led me to work with music for much of my life. In junior high school I helped the school orchestra, and in high school I worked with a mobile sound system that traveled to small towns for schools dances. As I grew older I worked as a DJ for a radio station and a college nightclub, In 1986 I went to school at the Recording Workshop in Ohio and studied sound engineering. When I moved to Minneapolis I worked as a music buyer for a record store called The Electric Fetus. I think the sound of vibrating strings is more musical than other kinds of instruments. It is more expressive, more human. This includes piano, violin, harp and mandolin but especially the guitar. The guitar has so many different ways of speaking, many different voices, if you will, that it never gets tiresome. I started playing the guitar in college in 1981. I formed a band in 1988 and in the following years we released three recordings on a local label. I first began modifying guitars for myself and others in 1988, trying new ways to make guitars play and sound better. In 1993 I studied cabinetmaking at Minnesota State College Minneapolis Technical earning numerous academic awards and graduating at the top of the class. I have worked professionally as a woodworker for over fifteen years. During that time my work has appeared in numerous publications including Architectural Digest, Builder magazine, on the cover of Midwest Home magazine, in the luxury magazine Marq, Guitarmaker Magazine, on the TV show "Home Time", and the TV show "Blueprint for Green". In 2003 I enrolled at Minnesota State College Southeast Technical to study musical stringed instrument repair and construction. I graduated with highest honors. Guitar making seems to be what my life has been pointing towards all along. My mother is an artist and my father is a retired science professor. This right brain and left brain upbringing is very useful in the building a guitar. I pay a great deal of attention to how small changes made to the design of an instrument affect the final voice. And it is also important that the guitar be an object of beauty. I take great care to find that colors complement each other or that the shape of an inlay works with the entire instrument. My mission is to create instruments that are beautiful, have superior sound quality and are a joy to play. I accomplish this by useing time honored designs and materials and methods that have proven to be worthy. I use a dovetail neck/body joint, scalloped X bracing, hot hide glue and lacquer finish. You could say that I am a traditionalist when it comes to guitar design. The guitar is a complex object and it is important to look to the past to learn what has worked and build from that knowledge. With my strong foundation as a woodworker and the experience that I have as a musician and a keen attention to detail, I produce an outstanding guitar that not only looks great but plays great and sounds amazing. Tim Reede Custom Guitars have been shown around the United States at the Newport Guitar Festival in Newport RI, the Healdsburg Guitar Festival near Healdsburg CA and the The Newport Guitar Festival in Miami Beach FL as well as in Tacoma WA, Red Wing MN, Manchester MD, Scottsdale AZ, Maple Grove MN, Howell NJ, Fargo ND and Springfield MO.
Click here to learn how to order a custom guitar Click here to read about guitar care
Other News
I have been using D'Addario strings long before I began building guitars. Strings make a big difference to the sound of an instrument. D'Addario strings sound great. I am very pleased that I am now a partner with this fine company. You can learn more about how D'Addario is reducing their environmental footprint by clicking on the logo below.
Tim Reede is one of 87 luthiers participating in the Sonic Sitka Project. The project was created by Dennis Merrill to document the audible changes that happen to a guitar over it's lifetime. All of the participants will be using sitka spruce sound boards from the same tree. The first sound sampling and exhibit of all of the sonic sitka guitars will be at the 2010 Newport Guitar Festival in Hollywood Florida.
Click this link to read the latest interview with Tim Reede by Custom Guitar Boutique.
Check out the audio interview with Tim Reede on the on-line magazine American Made Guitars.
Follow this link to see the Koa OM being played by Steve Kaul at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in California.
The January/February 2008 issue of Marq Magazine features Tim Reede's Leopard electric guitar in an article comparing the virtues of a vintage Fender Telecaster with the virtues of a new custom made guitar by Tim Reede.
Our new facility is complete now. It is nearly three times the size of our old building, and the added space is very much needed. The new building is incorporating sustainable or "Green" products in the design. We are useing a solar hot water heater that will supplement the hydronic radiant floor heating system. We are useing a new type of insulation called Ultra Touch that is made from the byproduct of the denim industry. It is basically ground up blue jeans. Our outdoor lighting is compliant with the Dark Sky Initiative so we are not polluting the night sky with unnecessary light. The parking area is water permeable so that oils do not wash off into the river. The landscaping contains native wild plantings to reestablish a healthy ecosystem. And the electricity that we use is partially produced by wind through Excel Energy's' Windsourse program. We feel that making these choices will promote a healthier environment and we believe that it reflects the values of our clients.
Shop Photos
Tuning the sonic sitka
The beginning of a cocobolo OM -----------------------------------Making saddle
In the finish room ------------------------------Sonic sitka -----------------------------Midnight Blue
Lighted side dots -------- --------------------------------------Glueing on the finger board
Sun inlay for the Blue Flame bass -------------------------------------------Fiber optics for side dots
Sonic Sitka cutaway ------------------------------Carving the neck ----- --------------------Sonic Sitka and Blue Guitar
Not blue yet but it will be _______------------------------- -------------------________Sonic sika body
Sonic sitka guitar project ribs and bear claw sitka soundboard.
A player with his new guitar ____-----_____Glueing a sitka soundboard
The Blue Heaven Bass carbon fiber rods and truss rod --------------------------Bending sides for and acoustic guitar
New pictures of the shop with new tools and cabinets
Using a granite flat stone for preparing the fingerboard----------------------Gluing the neck on the Malaysian Dreadnought
Malaysian Blackwood Dreadnought __ ________________A A neck through bass with less frills
Putting the completed guitar through its paces------------------------------------------- The Phoenix electric guitar ----
Guitars in the finishing booth---------------------Some electrics in process----------------------- Malaysian Blackwood sides --- Quilted mahogany bass-------------------------------------------- Victor trying out his project Telecaster
Inside an acoustic guitar ---------------------------------------------Neck/body dovetail joint
Photo shoot------------------------------FiFtting F Fitting marquetry purfling --------------------------Tim working on Victors guitar
A Tele restoration project --------------------------Necks for a 14 fret D and a 12 fret OOO
Dreadnought with new rosette---------------------------------------------------Many domestic and exotic woods are kept on hand
Tim in the new shop-------------------------------------------------------------Dreadnought end graft
OOO back detail --------------------------------------------------------------OOO top detail
Five string neck through bass --------------------------------------New rosette using rosewood and Paua Abalone
Matt Finishing guitars
Victor with a side project ------------------------OM and Leopard -------------------------Koa Grand Concert back
Cocobolo Dreadnought ------------------------------------------------------------Head stock Inlay
Gluing on the linings -----------------------------------Carving braces-------------------------------clamping the back braces
Dreadnought Bodies --------------------------------------------=Paua Abalone and Black mother of pearl Rosette Binding going on to the Venetian cut away archtop --------------------------------------- The neck for the Venetian cutaway archtop Gluing the back on the classical------------------------------------------------- Classical getting its binding
Gluing the neck on to the non cutaway archtop----------------------------------------------- Bracing for the triple O
Fitting the sides on a classical guitar -------------------------------------------- Solid electric bodys
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