But it was StevensвЂ™s wild custom orders and original designs that really gained the attention of the wider guitar world. Over the next few years, Stevens counted Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan, Otis Rush, Albert King, Eric Johnson, Lonnie Mack, Hubert Sumlin, Junior Brown and a whole slew of guitar legends among his clientele. Returning to the guitar fold in 1978, Stevens opened his own workshop in Austin, where he repaired вЂ“ and eventually built вЂ“ guitars for another wave of major artists. He later returned to his native Texas, and took a detour to pursue his other passion: training Arabian show horses at a ranch in remote McKinney, Texas. Stevens had begun his career in earnest in 1967, working with the late Larry Jameson at the famed Guitar Resurrection in San Francisco, California вЂ“ a place where countless major Bay Area guitarists came for their repair and custom work. Michael Stevens: From ranch hand to electric guitar royalty To understand how he did so, however, itвЂ™s worth briefly considering the backgrounds of the individual members of the two-man team he called upon. To do this, he needed a Custom Shop, and he tasked FMIC Vice President Dan Smith with setting it up. Once FMIC had its feet on the ground, though, Schultz wanted to remind the guitar world how good a Fender could be. Having reconfigured the operation as FMIC, the new owners initially set about pulling the basic models from the ashes and establishing a new factory in Corona, California вЂ“ the Fullerton plant not having been included in the terms of the sale. With the implosion of Fender Musical Instruments looking imminent at the end of CBSвЂ™s reign, existing CEO Bull Schultz and a group of investors вЂ“ including Dan Smith from the CBS-era management team вЂ“ swooped in 1984 to purchase the rights to the Fender name and designs. We asked Fender Custom Shop co-founders Michael Stevens and John Page to talk us through it, but first letвЂ™s go back a few years. But how did the climate at a newly reformed company foster this effort, and how did the venture really come together?ДЄ fingerboard is prepped for gluing to a neck blank in the Custom Shop, July 2017 In the midst of saving Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) from ruin and recapturing the strengths of this once-mighty guitar brand, Bill Schultz also decided to establish a вЂbest-of-the-bestвЂ™ department, where top-level luthiers would craft the finest renditions of both traditional Fender models and adventurous new designs, to suit the needs of name artists and special-order clients alike. Most guitarists, and Fender fans in particular, know the basic history of the Custom Shop, which celebrates its 30th Anniversary this year.

In reality, the Fender Custom Shop was founded to do both. For Fender players of the past 30 years, however, the term more likely denotes an effort to recreate the best of the companyвЂ™s guitars of the 50s and 60s. Often the term вЂcustom guitarвЂ™ implies something special-order, made with unusual features and non-standard specs.

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