A Quick Tour Of My Shop...
Meet My Staff...

I've been collecting basses and working on instruments for about 20 years, and I've always had a workshop full of woodworking machines. I got into building instruments as a sideline business in 1989, under the rather boring name of Johnson Research & Development. My friend Julie Moffitt suggested the name Johnson's Extremely Strange Musical Instrument Company, which I adopted in 1992. During those days my main project was the Bass Banjo, an giant upright banjo that stands 6'5". I had a lot of fun with it, terrorizing bluegrass festivals. Hit the link for a page of pictures and information about it.

In '94 and '95, I moved into building electric basses. I worked with a team of friends and developed a cool new bass for the SWR company. It was called the SWR Workingman's Bass. I developed all the tooling and production processes, and we built 8 prototypes (I still own five of them). Unfortunately, the project just didn't pencil out financially and got cancelled. It's too bad, because it was a nice instrument. But the market timing was wrong, and I learned a lot from the project. Many of the production methods that I worked out then evolved into what I use today.

From '96 through '99, I developed the AEB-2/AUB-2 Scroll Basses, which is my own personal passion. The whole story of that project is on the AEB-2 & AUB-2 Scroll Basses page. I've now expanded out into a few other things, including restorations of vintage Ampegs and custom order necks. I'm also gradually adding a few other model instruments to my product line. Some, like the SSB and the Devil Bass, will be derivatives of Ampeg models, and others won't.

I've deliberately kept this company small and tightly focused on a narrow line of instruments that I have a particular interest in. I've developed my own manufacturing processes and tooling that allows me to make these instruments surprisingly efficiently in batches of a couple at a time. Yes, I could hire employees and try to build this up into a bigger business, but I really don't want to. The musical instrument business is insanely competitive and it's very difficult to make it work by any standard business model. Instrument companies spring up and go bankrupt every year. I don't want to go through those boom-and-crash cycles. I'm in this business because I truly enjoy designing and building musical instruments, and I'd rather keep it small and under my control. My goal is to build up a solid reputation in a specialized part of the market over a long time, and eventually have a steady, enjoyable semi-retirement business.

By the way, this isn't a full time thing for me. I'm a mechanical engineer/inventor with about 25 years of experience in advanced R & D groups at large companies. Back in the '70's, I worked in auto racing, developing engines and test equipment. Through the '80's, I was in the defense business designing advanced weapon systems for the Army, and working on "black" programs at the Lockheed Skunk Works.

Through the '90's, I worked at Walt Disney Imagineering, the company that designs and builds Disney's theme parks. I was a senior-level mechanical engineer in the R & D division, where I specialized in robotic figures and advanced ride systems. Those were fun years, but the interesting work tapered off towards 2000, and I got out of it as I built up my musical instrument business.

So, I've expanded my design & fabrication business into other areas. I operate under the business name of Johnson's Rather Odd Custom Shop, and I'm essentially an inventor for hire. I design and build mechanical devices and components for various companies around the Burbank area. I've done subcontract work for set-building companies, such as trade show models and parts for museum exhibits. In the last two years, I've been concentrating on the recording/editing studio industry, including custom panels and components for high-end studio consoles, and even specialty microphones. I find that I really enjoy the field of metalworking for electronics; designing and building the hardware to package and mount electronic devices. My clients now include several major companies that do the post-production editing and mixing of movie soundtracks, and a few music recording studios. They've been keeping me very busy!