Moniker Guitars was an American

guitar manufacturing Guitar manufacturing is the use of machines, tools, and labor in the production of electric and acoustic guitars. This phrase may be in reference to handcrafting guitars using traditional methods or assembly line production in large quantities usi ...

company based

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. It operated from 2012 to 2018 producing

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

s. Each guitar was custom built based on designs submitted by customers using an online design tool. Moniker's manufacturing process enabled their guitars to sell at prices comparable to store-bought guitars.

History

The company was inspired when amateur guitar player Kevin Tully observed a bicycle manufactured by Republic Bike of

Dania Beach, Florida Dania Beach (Dania until 1998) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 31,723. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census ...

, which allows customers to design each bike using an online tool. In 2012, Moniker Guitars was founded by Tully and his associate Dave Barry, both natives of Boston. Original funding of $25,000 was provided by IDEA, the business incubator at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

, and in 2013, a

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campaign was used to raise an additional $60,000 from 155 backers. By 2014, the company employed six people operating out of a shared workspace in Austin, and was producing approximately 12 electric guitars per week. Moniker Guitars closed in 2018.

Manufacturing

Customers used a "configurator" tool on Moniker's website to choose from three body styles, five stains, and 17 paint colors, as well as different component parts, including a pickup by

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan foun ...

. Text and user-designed graphics could also be added. The configurator software cost about $10,000, and the company's goal was to create an interface that was clean, simple, and easy to use. Moniker then used

CNC milling Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a piec ...

to precisely produce the guitar body, which was made from domestically sourced wood. A fast-drying clearcoat manufactured by Simtec Coatings was then applied, followed by environmentally-safe water-based paints by

PPG Industries PPG Industries, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 company and global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 70 countries around the globe. By revenue it is ...

Adobe Illustrator Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program developed and marketed by Adobe Inc. Originally designed for the Apple Macintosh, development of Adobe Illustrator began in 1985. Along with Creative Cloud (Adobe's shift to month ...

and a vinyl plotter were used to create stencils from which text and graphics were applied. Though the company could assemble the guitar in 24 hours, the final product was shipped to customers in four weeks.

Reception

In 2013, Moniker Guitars was featured on MSNBC's ''Your Business''. The company's website stated that their guitars had been purchased by Kyle Shutt of

The Sword The Sword was an American heavy metal band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 2003, the band was composed of vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie and drummer Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III for most of its t ...

, and Justin Bradley and Josh Withenshaw of

Anarbor Anarbor is an American rock band from Phoenix, Arizona that was formed in 2003. The band is composed of lead vocalist, bassist and only constant member Slade Echeverria, guitarist Adam Juwig, guitarist Danny Stravers, and drummer William Wilson. ...

. It also showed photos of various musicians playing Moniker Guitars, including

Matt Noveskey William Matthew Noveskey (born June 16, 1976 in Adrian, Michigan, USA) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, and bassist, best known as the bassist in the bands Blue October and Harvard of the South, and as bassist and ...

Blue October Blue October is an American rock band originally from Houston, Texas. The band was formed in 1995 and is currently composed of singer/guitarist Justin Furstenfeld, drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Delahoussaye, bassist M ...

, Paul Marc Rousseau and Shane Told of Silverstein, and Andy Lane of

Driver Friendly Driver Friendly is an American rock band from Austin, Texas, United States. Driver Friendly has toured with such bands as Motion City Soundtrack, Cartel, Relient K, Hellogoodbye, Night Riots, Hit The Lights, TEAM*, as well as Warped Tour. Histo ...

References

External links

Official website
(archived 4 March 2016) {{Guitar brands Manufacturing companies based in Austin, Texas Defunct manufacturing companies based in Texas Guitar manufacturing companies of the United States 2012 establishments in Texas 2018 disestablishments in Texas Manufacturing companies established in 2012 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2018