![Kustom 200 bass amplifier (1971)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Kustom_200_bass_amplifier_%281971%29.jpg)
Kustom Amplification or Kustom Electronics is a manufacturer of
guitar and bass amplifiers and
PA equipment and accessories. Since 1999, Kustom has been owned by the Hanser Music Group headquartered in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
.
History
"Kustom" was a brand and trademark of
Ross, Inc., a company founded in 1964 by
Charles A. "Bud" Ross in
Chanute, Kansas
Chanute () is a city in Neosho County, Kansas, United States. Founded on January 1, 1873, it was named after railroad engineer and aviation pioneer Octave Chanute. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,722. Chanute is home ...
. The main selling point of Kustom amplifiers was their unique appearance: Ross, Inc. was the first to mass-produce amplifiers covered in roll and pleat, popularly referred to as "Tuck-And-Roll"
naugahyde
Naugahyde is an American brand of artificial leather. Naugahyde is a composite knit fabric backing and expanded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating. It was developed by Byron A. Hunter, senior chemist at the United States Rubber Company, and is no ...
, similar to hot-rod automobile upholstery popular at that time. The amplifiers featured
solid-state
Solid state, or solid matter, is one of the four fundamental states of matter.
Solid state may also refer to:
Electronics
* Solid-state electronics, circuits built of solid materials
* Solid state ionics, study of ionic conductors and their use ...
circuitry instead of
vacuum tube
A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied.
The type kn ...
-based designs so common in the 1960s.
Ross, Inc. operated in a factory in
Chanute, Kansas
Chanute () is a city in Neosho County, Kansas, United States. Founded on January 1, 1873, it was named after railroad engineer and aviation pioneer Octave Chanute. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,722. Chanute is home ...
. The company produced several models of guitar amplifiers, bass amplifiers, organ amplifiers, Guitars, Basses, and keyboards and P.A. systems. There was also a line of guitars with
DeArmond
Rowe Industries was a manufacturer of guitar pickups and other music-related devices, as well as electrical components utilized in the aerospace industry into the 1980s.
Owner Horace "Bud" Rowe established a working relationship with budding el ...
pickups in a variety of colors, including the infamous Pink to Green sunburst that fans have affectionately named "Watermelon Burst." In an original promotion Kustom gave away "Kustom Kats" with the purchase of an amplifier. The Kustom (The Nauga, or Naugie) Kats were from the same Uniroyal
Naugahyde
Naugahyde is an American brand of artificial leather. Naugahyde is a composite knit fabric backing and expanded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating. It was developed by Byron A. Hunter, senior chemist at the United States Rubber Company, and is no ...
that Kustom used to cover their products. The original Kustom amps came in a variety of colors including Red Sparkle, Blue Sparkle, Gold Sparkle, Cascade Sparkle (teal), Charcoal Sparkle (grey), Silver Sparkle (white), and Flat Black (which contained no glitter). Eventually the company branched out to produce organs, drums, microphones, and guitars.
Charles "Bud" Ross produced the first Kustom amp which comprised two fifteen inch speakers mounted side-by-side in a horizontal white sparkle cabinet with and a non-Frankenstein head. The first amp was built for a member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame and is now a featured display in the collection of Rainbow Recording Studios in Omaha, Nebraska. The company was owned by Bud Ross from 1964 until June 1972, when Ross sold it to Baldwin Pianos. The sale was finalized just prior to the 1972 Summer NAMM show where the metal/slant face Kustom amps were introduced. Later Bud Ross established a fairly lucrative business which manufactured police handheld radars. During the following years the factory in
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
and the associated trademarks would change ownership numerous times. The most notable merger happened with Gretsch, which at the time was owned by Baldwin.
Aside from the Kustom brand, Kustom Electronics also began to manufacture an amplifier line called Kasino. The brand was established in 1972. These were internally the same as Kustom amplifiers but were covered with traditional
Tolex
Tolex is a trade name for a flexible, waterproof, vinyl material used as a cover material for books, upholstery, guitar amplifiers, cases, and other products.
Tolex was filed as a trademark on August 30, 1945 by the General Tire, and was registe ...
material as seen on
Fender style amplifiers. Kasino amps were used mainly by country music performers who felt the regular Kustom Tuck-And-Roll Naugahyde models were too flashy. Another reason for establishing a parallel brand was simply to gain a greater share of the amplifier market. One distributor could sell the Kustom brand and one could sell Kasino without competing with each other.
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music.
Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...
was an early supporter of the Kasino line. Kasino amps were discontinued in 1975 when Kustom Electronics once again changed ownership.
Other parallel brands of Kustom Electronics were Klassic and Camco. Klassic was a brief venture that reputedly fell into trademark disputes with Peavey Electronics who happened to own the "Classic" trademark. Camco was a brand used for drums.
![KustomHead](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/KustomHead.jpg)
Some affiliated companies and trademarks were Woodson and Legend. Woodson Electronics, Inc. from
Bolivar, Missouri
Bolivar is a city and county seat of Polk County, Missouri, United States. As of a 2019 estimate by the U. S. Census Bureau, the city population was 11,067.
History
Bolivar began as a settlement around Keeling Spring, with the majority of settl ...
was an independent business entity founded by Mike Woodson in the early 1970s (around the same time when Kustom was acquired by Gretsch). Mike was Bud's brother-in-law and all amps and P.A. systems were manufactured in Bolivar. Several Kustom employees moved to Bolivar to work for Woodson. Legend hybrid amplifiers of Legend Musical Instruments, Inc. from
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
were also manufactured by the Kustom factory. Reputedly these were engineered by Richard Newman (an employee of Bonne Music Shop) and a former employee of Woodson Electronics.
![Sheryl Crow 003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Sheryl_Crow_003.jpg)
Kustom abandoned the tuck-n-roll upholstery in the late 1970s. Around the same time the company also changed its logo to a bigger letter "K." Mesa Boogie "Mark" series amplifiers appeared in the late 1970s generating a huge impact. Everyone wanted to clone the popular design, including Kustom Electronics. Kustom's answer to the Mark series was a hybrid amplifier series called "K-Studio." The K-Studio was among the last traditional Kustom products, as subsequent Kustom trademark owners no longer had any affiliation with the old Kansas-based company.
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...
and
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
musicians originally used Kustom amplifiers. Other artists known for using the Kustom brand for live performances are
Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Wayne Axton (March 25, 1938 – October 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voic ...
,
The Altamonts
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
,
Dusty Murphy,
3 and
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three li ...
. Some of the most famous Kustom P.A. users include
Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Leon Russell,
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
,
Roy Clark,
The Jackson 5
The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...
,
Carl Perkins and
The Carpenters
The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct ...
. CCR toured from mid-1969 - 1972 using their own massive Kustom 400 PA system due to a lack of quality backline PA systems in venues at that time. As a result, CCR concerts were superior in sound quality, but the cost of transporting the equipment made touring a money losing deal for the band.
Hanser Re-issues
Hanser Holdings, Inc. from
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
bought the bankrupted Kustom in the late 1980s. In 1994, Hanser produced some small solid-state amplifiers featuring tuck-n-roll covering under the Kustom brand. These amps were manufactured in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
From 1999 to 2001 Hanser continued producing Kustom brand tuck-n-roll amplifiers including a full tube guitar amplifier, 100W and a 50W solid state reverb amps called TRT100 and TRT50, a 400W hybrid bass amplifier TRB400H, as well as 2x12", 4x12" and 2x15" speaker cabinets in original tuck-n-roll style. List prices were in 2000: $999.95 (TRT100), $899.95 (TRT50), $899.95 (TRB400H) $399.95 (2x12"), $599.95 (4x12"), $749.95 (2x15").
Krossroad
Since selling Ross, Inc. Bud Ross has had numerous ventures in MI industry (including Road Electronics and Ross Systems). His only venture resembling traditional Kustom amplifiers was a brief venture with his son Andy Ross. The duo founded Krossroad Music Corporation in the early 1990s and for a brief period the company manufactured a series of solid-state bass amplifiers featuring traditional Kustom-style tuck-n-roll cosmetics. The amplifiers were even marketed with the Kustom Kat mascot. The venture proved unsuccessful, however, and within a few years the company had ceased to exist.
Guitars
As noted above, Kustom also produced a line of guitars in the 1967-1969 designed by Doyle Reading who also designed guitars for Wurlitzer. Model numbers were similar to the amplifiers of the time, with the K-200 being a semi-hollow body instrument with a cats-eye sound hole giving it a somewhat Rickenbacker-style look. It was equipped with two single coil DeArmond pickups, a bound neck, a steel nut, and a rosewood fretboard with multiple dot inlays beginning with four for each position marker below the 12th fret. The guitars came in different colors including natural, white, blue, wineburst aka watermelon burst, cherry-orange sunburst, natural ash, black ash and white ash, and were produced with or without a Bigsby tailpiece.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Official siteBud RossNAMM Oral History Interview
Guitar amplifier manufacturers
Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States