Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Sullivan.
Jon, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
The short(ish) version is that I’ve had a guitar around me since age eight, and that first guitar was one that I had to fix in order for it to play. When I was going up as a teen in the mid/late 80s, all of my guitar heroes had custom guitars, and there was a guitar shop near me that I hung around like a stray cat. The owner did repairs and built parts guitars, and I’d watch him work on stuff. In high school, I did a couple of refinishing projects for a friend of mine (and filmed it – bits of the remaining footage is still on the YouTube channel). I always liked working on my own guitars, and eventually started making parts guitars in 2001, and moved to building completely from scratch a few years later.
I started documenting my build projects on my YouTube channel in 2007 and bit a following that would help me switch to building guitars full time in 2014. In 2017, I built a custom guitar for Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue, and he told two friends, and they told two friends, and so on and so on… 🙂 Sully Guitars has been a part of my life since I was very small (I wrote Sully Guitars on the headstock of my first electric guitar when I was 12). It’s just something that’s constantly evolved.
Has it been a smooth road?
Nope! 🙂 When I started, I had no woodworking experience beyond 7th-grade woodshop (which I didn’t love), and growing up, I often ditched math class. The irony of those two things is not lost on me. There are multiple disciplines in guitar building, and I mostly learned from reading books and trial and error. You not only have to build your woodworking ability to a level that results in a well-constructed instrument, but there’s also the finish (paint) aspect of it. Once you get past that ridiculously steep learning curve, you’ve got to be able to get the parts on it without damaging your pretty paint job, and then make the guitar play better than what you can get from the major manufacturers.
Once you can do that, you’ve got to be able to market your designs and distinguish yourself from what everyone else does. Between the major manufacturers who can simply make a splash by offering a new color or slight tweak on something you’ve seen all of your life to all of the small builders like myself who are fighting for space in your social media feeds, there’s only so much room. It’s a daily fight to gain ground. I think you first need to figure out what it is that you do that’s different, even if it’s just cosmetics because at the end of the day, this is the fashion business. When you’re basically a one-person company, sometimes you have to be the face of it. For better or worse, I’m somewhat marketable, and it can be easier for us as consumers to know, like, and trust a brand if we feel a personal connection or some similarity with said brand. I usually enjoy that aspect of the business; it’s nice to interact with people who are interested in what you do. There are tons of new guitar companies that pop up, make noise, and then evaporate; you just have to focus on what you do, find your people, and keep them interested as best as you can.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Sully Guitars story. Tell us more about the business.
Sully Guitars is a high end, “boutique” guitar company. With a few exceptions, it’s a one-man shop. I build high-performance instruments that incorporate modern features, yet feel comfortable and allow you to create. From a design standpoint, I like to walk the line between the comfort zone and something a little more fresh. Overall, everything I build is made with the player in mind. Yes, the guitar should look, play, and sound great, but when you pick it up, it should get out of your way.
Although we are focused at the rock/metal guitarist, our guitars are very versatile and you can get a wide array of tones from them. They’ve been featured on magazine covers such as Guitar Player and have been toured around the world numerous times.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The guitar business is very much the fashion business, and it’s very common to see trends mostly in finishes (paint jobs). For example, we’ve been doing sparkle finishes for years, and it’s been kinda fun seeing them come back into style recently. A positive thing that started a few years ago is the guitar magazines and manufacturers realizing that they’ve been ignoring/objectifying 50% of the world’s population. Girls DO play guitar, too, and I’m hopeful that the industry will continue to move forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sullyguitars.com
- Email: info@sullyguitars.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sullyguitars/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sullyguitars/
Image Credit:
Anthony Frisketti, Front Row Perspective/Mike McMillen, Beto Branger
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