By: Staff
In Summer of 2012, Austin-based Moniker Guitars initially started manufacturing their brand of quality, affordable and fully customizable electric guitars to the online marketplace. With response greater than their original projections, the demand for a line of semi-hollow body guitars grew and owners Kevin Tully and Dave Barry decided to crowdsource the expansion to Kickstarter. You can find their project HERE.
“As a custom guitar company it’s important to listen to what the customer wants and we’re constantly challenged by their requests,” said Tully. “Being such a young venture, asking our customers to invest in the semi-hollow bodies with us was the only way we saw making them possible.”
From the beginning Moniker has differentiated itself from other custom electric guitar manufacturers by offering a fully interactive website with the ability to customize any element of the guitar, providing a faster turnaround time — about six weeks — compared to the months it typically takes at other shops and keeping the price points affordable.
In addition to the partnership they’ve recently created with Seymour Duncan pickups, they’re also one of the first U.S. Companies to utilize Houston-based PPG Envirobase paints — an environmentally safe water-based paint that contains extremely low VOC levels and quick dry time — the same brand adopted by high end car manufacturers such as Lamborghini and Ferrari.
With recent media attention on their Kickstarter from Tech Crunch and an appearance on MSNBC’s Sunday morning program “Your Business,” Moniker hopes to raise their company’s profile and become self-sufficient for future expansion.
“In many ways we run our company like a band,” said Barry. “We are constantly being creative, honing our craft and trying to get in front of as many people as possible; at the moment we may be the opener, but we’re hoping to create something that will eventually land us a headlining gig.”
Moniker has also launched a new web-based series featuring some of their endorsed artists and the process of building their dream guitar. On the first video, Patricia Lynn from The Wind and the Wave builds her dream semi-hollow body electric guitar.
ABOUT MONIKER GUITARS
Based in Austin TX, Moniker Guitars was created in 2011 by two friends who share a maniacal obsession for playing and building electric guitars. Founders Kevin Tully and Dave Barry learned how to properly build, paint, finish and wire guitars. While doing so, they maintained the desire to create high quality guitars that look different from the rest while keeping them affordable.
Moniker was founded on the belief that there are other guitar players who want to own and play an instrument as unique as the music they make with it. The goal is to share their own passion for designing and customizing guitars by providing a website that makes designing your custom instrument easy and accessible.
