We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sean Kochel. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sean below.

Hi Sean, thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I worked part-time for several years be for making the leap to full-time. I was working at a furniture restoration shop at the time when my boss convinced me to take the leap. He told me even though he loved having me around, I would be happier and better off if I spent the time I needed to take care of my business and my clients properly than I would be working part-time. I saved up enough money to get me through for a couple of months and didn’t go in that next Monday.
Luckily once I took that time to go full-time, I didn’t have to solely rely on savings. The business bettered itself and worked with the attention I gave it.

Sean, 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 was born and raised in Montana. Growing up I was always fascinated with my Grandfathers’s stringed instruments. He brought his love for music over from Croatia. He played in many Tamburitza bands over the years. When I started to have some disposable income, I began collecting guitars, mandolins and ukuleles over the years. I would fix them up and resell them. Eventually, I bought some guitar-building tools and thought to myself someday I am going to build a guitar for myself.
At the time I was running a commercial beekeeping business with my dad. My dad passed away and my bees all died. I was in a pretty dark place. I had gotten an email from my brother, and there was a popup ad on the email that said to build a guitar in a day. That’s what I did. I had made my first simple cigar box guitar.
I showed the guitar to my family and they loved it! My mom took one to a craft fair and it sold immediately. I thought haha, I will make CBGs and use them to supplement my bee business. Well, the guitars sold as fast as I could make them. In the first two years, I had sold over 200 guitars. Things were going great for several years and then., 2008 happened. Things got tough and I doubled down and bought more tools and taught myself the craft even more. Through books and the internet. Things eventually picked back up and started getting better.
Since then I have improved my skills and my design techniques in order to meet customers demands. I use my creative approach to offer customers a unique guitar with custom features not found in commercial instruments.
I use a lot of reclaimed and sustainable wood and materials in my builds. I am then able to give that information to my clients to give them a stronger connection with the instrument.
I feel what makes me stand apart from a lot of other people is my aesthetic and the design approach of a traditional instrument with a different but timeless feel.
Some of the things I am most proud of is the fact I was able to better myself as an individual through the perseverance as a luthier than settling for some job that may be more secure that I would be miserable going to each day.
The other achievements I am proud of are the recognition I have gotten from fellow guitar builders. From my state of Montana through media arts publications.
One thing I would like to be known for is a person who is passionate about Montana, from its lands to its people, and all it has to offer, I love Montana.
My guitars are about sustainability. I want people who see my guitars and play them to think and feel the past while living in the present.
I am a one-person business, I have worked hard over the last 20 years to were all of the hats. Some hats fit better than others, but I am the one doing it all..
I try my best for each person I work with when ordering a guitar and I want to give them something they can have in order to make their life more enjoyable.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Being a creative person can be very rewarding, but many times it can be a curse. When a thought enters my mind many times, I have to create and make that thought. It will consume my every thought otherwise. If I can’t act on it right away, it almost hurts my mind to think about it until I take action to start creating that idea. There is an overwhelming desire to start building and making that idea. It becomes very obsessive. Thinking about the process of making things at times will interrupt everyday life. Trying to figure out how I can make that thing happen.
The great thing about that process is when I create or make that idea, there is a huge sense of relief and a feeling of calm, joy, and happiness after the piece is made or the project is done.
I also keep lists of ideas and thought when they are too big of a scale for the time. List of thought ideas to come back to when I would have the resources to tackle the idea or to pass it along to someone else who might be able to have the time and resources to take on the idea.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

What keeps driving me forward in my creative journey is many things. One of which is the realization that I am very fortunate in this life to be able to have the time and the resources to create and build. I have been blessed to be where I am in this world. I don’t want to squander this gift. I have to keep in mind my gift is bigger than I am. It is not just for me to hold, but to share with as many people as this world will allow.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kochelguitars.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kochel_guitars/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KochelGuitars

Image Credits
ImagesbyAdrianna LLC