If you found yourself in Hall E at any point during the show, odds are you spotted a handful of distinguished-looking gentlemen wandering around in full zombie makeup. The members of the Riverside CA metal band Still Not Dead drew all sorts of attention to the Research Assembly Workshop (theevolutionguitar.com) booth, where Owner Jonathan Park and Luthier Tim Emery were demonstrating their flagship product, the Evolution Guitar. A hollow-body electric, it allows players to change the guitar’s tone by interchanging a variety of faceplates. “So, imagine 10 guitars in one body,” explained Emery, who innovated the faceplate-changing system. The Evolution also offers more durability than you might expect from a hollow-body model. It’s made from laminated Baltic birch for a finished product that is stronger than natural wood yet still offers the same warmth of tone. “I have YouTube videos of me running these over with cars, bouncing ’em off cement…the kind of stuff that would destroy a regular electric guitar. Our bodies don’t break,” said Emery.
For such a new company, Research Assembly Workshop already has its approach to doing business figured out. “Jon’s a furniture-maker/architect, I’m a retired chef/musician, and after we met on Craigslist, we decided to take the industry in a different direction,” explained Emery. “So, instead of buy-ins and the really expensive stuff, endorsements where you’re still paying for a guitar, we believe in giving talented musicians a guitar so they can just play it and enjoy it. Be good to the people who are selling your guitar, because those guys are the ones who are getting your name out there.” This approach is more than evident in Emery and Park’s close relationships with The Whisky Rebellion, a sponsored artist whose feedback proved instrumental to the design process behind the Evolution, as well as Still Not Dead, whom the duo met while on a trip to Knotfest to deliver an Evolution Guitar to Slipknot guitarist Jim Root. That trip also led to an opportunity to donate an Evolution Guitar to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Although Emery had his doubts about how the company would be received at its first NAMM show, the experience turned out to be a positive one. “To be honest, I was terrified. I was like ‘They’re gonna eat us alive; people are gonna hate us.’ And not one person that we’ve come across has been unwelcoming,” said Emery. “The show was an amazing investment, even just because I get to run around and ogle all sorts of other great guitars.” And, to his relief, people were very into the Evolution. “The new generation of guitar players coming up really gets into it. The guys that are part of the old school at first are skeptical, but then they sit down and play it, and they get upset because they love it.”