We were lucky to catch up with Josh Stotler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Josh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Over the last two years alone, over 16 million people learned to play guitar. Add that to the millions who already play and it’s easy to see the demand for instruments is high. It’s easy to look at a business from the outside and make the assumption that its an automatic money generating venture but like so many small business owners, I’ve found the opposite to be true. Yes, owning your own business comes with some pretty great perks that are hard to beat; schedule flexibility, being your own boss and deciding what direction you’d like to take the company but for every perk there are several inimical elements. I may build world class musical instruments, but I also answer the phone, keep the books, clean the shop, pack, ship, create advertising, tend to social media and every mind numbing task in between. Small business may be small in presence but often it’s big in workload.

Josh, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Luthier, someone who makes and repairs stringed instruments. I got my start at 14 when I made my own electric bass guitar. I got back into building guitars while I was living in Germany. With access to a pretty amazing wood shop, I was able to learn and grow by trial and error, repairing other peoples guitars and a lot of reading on the subject. I am now building and repairing guitars full time. Over the years I have developed a love of creating intricate inlays and now contract my work out to some pretty big names in the guitar business. I also create one of a kind themed instruments. I started creating themed guitars for the San Diego County Fairs “Design In Wood” show, following whatever the theme of the fair is for that year. I also created a pair of Apollo themed guitars for the San Diego Air & Space museum. This kicked off a series of space themed instruments that include a custom ukulele for Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise, an Apollo 7 themed jumbo acoustic for astronaut Walt Cunningham and a Mars Perseverance Rover themed guitar for Moogega Cooper, a planetary protection scientist at NASA’s JPL. When it comes to designs for my instruments, the sky really is the limit.

I find that no matter what the project is, quality of work and attention to detail are paramount. I like to under promise and over deliver. Seeing the customer speechless is something that never gets old. Treating every job big or small like it is the defining project of my shop has kept my customers coming back for more work time and again. I am most proud of the long list of clients who are now friends through work I have done on their guitars. That is the true litmus test that lets me know I’m doing things right.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There have been many books that led me to where I am now. Most of which are instructional books on various guitar building techniques and specialty skills. One in particular is The Art of Inlay by Larry Robinson. This book influenced me creatively more than any other I have ever read. As for books that guided me in running my business and how to keep focus even when things don’t go my way, Tough and Competent by former NASA Flight Director Eugene Kranz is a great resource that is fitting to almost any situation. Guitar Lessons by Bob Taylor is a book I treasure, not only for its frankness about the guitar business but also because Taylor Guitars is headquartered in my home town and has been a shining navigational star lighting my path since I was a kid. I’ve had the opportunity to sit down and have discussions with Gene Kranz and Bob Taylor and it was a thrill to tell both men how much their wisdom and experience has helped guide my path.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I originally set out to build an Apollo themed guitar, I envisioned building one amazing instrument. When I was in talks with the San Diego Air & Space Museum, their CEO, Jim Kidrick asked if I could build two. Not knowing how intricate the build would be, I said “yes”. I was now committed to build two jumbo acoustic guitars, tributes to the men and women who made the Apollo space missions a huge success. My plans included wood inlays of each mission patch around the sides of the guitar, large mural inlay on the back, a top that looks like a flown command module and inlays of space flown material. Building these two side by side was really a double edged sword. While I had one guitar as a test bed for new techniques, some of which have never been done, I also had the challenge of doing everything twice, no matter how difficult or intricate the process. There were time where I was stuck, really stuck not knowing how I was going to accomplish a task. Often times it took shifting gears to another phase of the build that would give me enough clarity to figure out the road block. It took over 512 hours over two years and 1,328 individual pieces of inlay to complete “Eagle” and “Aquarius” and I couldn’t be happier with the result. This was by far my toughest build to date.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.OakCreekGuitars.com
• Instagram: @Oak_Creek_Guitars
• Yelp: Oak Creek Guitars
• Other: linktr.ee/oak_creek_guitars