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Doeringer Guitars - About Us
What started as a 10th grade wood shop project has become a lifelong passion for the pursuit of the perfect guitar. The perfect guitar is one that may not be perfect for everyone...but it is to you. The start: 10th grade woodshop project. Should I build a shelf, a planter, small table or how about a guitar. The guitar won out, it was pre 80's and I loved the Rich Bich body so I was ready to get started. The guitar turned out beautifully except for two areas. I spent good money on pickups and electronics but was left with little for a quality neck. I think it still had a Louisville Slugger logo on it, and felt bad. The other problem was that we could not find wood thick enough so it was only 1.25 inches thick. Lesson learned, but I still loved it because I made it. The next couple of attempts were much better quality and very playable instruments but still had a homemade look to them. With the help of Mark Graham, nephew, band mate, friend, the early eighties proved to be the learning years. We would go to the pawn shop, buy a beat up piece of crap and either fix it up or use the parts and build a new body. Our shop was located in the kitchen, garage and on the living room floor and our tools consisted of a hand drill, files, chisels and sandpaper. We each still have a guitar from this time period and bring them out periodically for "show and tell". This was one way we were able to get cash for other equipment, for studio time, and even the beer fund. But we learned a lot! After a little trial and error, we found we could make a $59. beater (things were cheaper then) and make it feel like a top shelf guitar. We learned repairs, upgrades, setups, everything. Pretty soon we were doing work for many of the local Atlanta musicians, and after talking about and showing one of our Pawn Shop rebuilds, we were asked to build our first commissioned custom guitar. WaHoo! I'm going to skip to the present for now, I'll comeback and fill this in later. Still handmade, but the tools are professional quality now and we don't have to clear the dishes to find workspace. Decades of designing and re-designing jigs and templates have helped us to duplicate quality and streamline the building process so you know when you pick up a Doeringer guitar, you are playing quality. Now we not only build for ourselves but we build for some of the country's best boutique builders.
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