Boutique Laboratory Guitars
Santa Cruz, CA — est. from a hardware failure

Crafted to be played.

every build starts as a suspicion
Explore the Lab View the System
Stacks of raw tonewood stock in the shop
not a guitar yet
Completed guitar bodies on a shop shelf, assembled and waiting for finish
boxes, waiting on finish
A guitar body with a scorched, high-contrast wood grain finish, clamped in the shop
burnt on purpose
Three finished BLG guitars on stands at a live venue
three, out on the road

The Lab

Over three decades of building instruments, working with wood, trying things, breaking things, and paying attention to what happened next.

The Work

Three classes: Steady State, Studio Class, and Electric define the build.
One mutation: Mad Scientist Strain is what happens when the experiment becomes the reason for the instrument.

The Sound Forge

A single-room workshop in Santa Cruz where every instrument is built and played by the same hands.

Inside the design
"The plan is evidence, not law."

Intention starts the process. Observation is allowed to change it. Method follows what works. The specimen is the result.

Every failure was just data with an attitude.

See the system →
The Work

This isn't a model list. It's a system.

Three classes. Six architectures. Mutations are possible. Every result is a specimen.

Steady State build
Class 01

Steady State

Built for working hands. Professional grade, durable, serviceable, and self-contained. It's the one you go to.

Explore the shelf
Studio Class build
Class 02

Studio Class

Over three decades of build evolution — refined, expressive, still full of surprises.

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Electric build
Class 03

Electric

Wood. Wire. Magnets. Strings. Away we go.

Explore the shelf
From the research log

Stories, specs, and surprises.

Entry 001

If Holes Made Sound, You'd Hear Silence

Rethinking the guitar top after a glimpse inside a grand piano.
Entry 002

The Secret Life of Light

How drying oils cure by autoxidation and reveal hidden color in wood.
Entry 003

The Unreasonable Build Cycle

What happens when you push a project until it pushes back.
Enter the Codex
Proof of Feeling

When it's right, you know it.

That feeling when the rest of the world fades, and it's just you, the strings, and the sound coming back at you. Every BLG build chases that moment — not the perfect measurement on paper, but the perfect connection in the player's hands.

If a certain specimen doesn't speak to you, it's not for you. That's why I keep the experiments going. Maybe your specimen just hasn't arrived yet.

Contact the Lab
Tobin builds Boutique Laboratory Guitars in Santa Cruz, CA
Contact the Lab

Want to talk builds, visit the lab, or start a conversation?

BLG guitars are built one at a time in a single-room workshop in Santa Cruz, CA. Every conversation is with the builder.

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