- May 20, 2026
- 15
- 49
- Disclosures
- longtime friend colleague of Bruce Johnson - maker of GuitarViols.
It’s been ages since I have logged into any online forum/group. Many of you on Talk Bass know my long time collaborator,friend, and once upon a time neighbor Bruce Johnson from the secret underground laboratory in Fillmore CA. I have known Bruce since his (pre-Fillmore) Burbank days 2003. My shop bays were across the hall from mid 2015- late 2019. I specialize in obscure alternative instruments called GuitarViols aka “ The film composer‘s secret weapon“ (documentary out soon) These are basically guitar formatted violas Heard in film TV media soundtracks of the last 24 +years.
Much has changed since I moved away from The secret underground laboratory in Fillmore (story by itself). My arrival to new skylight commercial space Timed With significant regulatory sea changes, the pandemic, changing market priorities, supply chain hell, and the general hollowing out of the industry that took up about 90% of my typical customer profile. After fighting through with all my might eventually had to shutter my hard won Valencia space - The right shop at the wrong time! Anyway I have scaled back for both age and health reasons. Still active though!
Hopefully I can bring some unique insights to the table. Although the majority of my instruments (roughly 430 of them exist in cinematic production studios around the world) were typically made of wood, I have pivoted over to composites over the last decade. Initially I was doing carbon fiber but I started specializing more in industrial hemp construction after some frustrations with CF. I migrated into this direction after burning out from weather whiplash events and fickle woods doing what fickle woods do (crack warp move and I’m allergic to many exotics) I was also after something repeatable and trainable for a team of technicians. I almost pulled it off! It did not age well with the times and so I’m still doing it on a smaller scale. Hopefully some of my unusual approaches can complement some of the stuff that happens here on talk bass - I know Bruce has been active here for a very long time so it seemed like a solid community of various deep dives!
Anyway thanks for having me!
Jonathan Wilson
Much has changed since I moved away from The secret underground laboratory in Fillmore (story by itself). My arrival to new skylight commercial space Timed With significant regulatory sea changes, the pandemic, changing market priorities, supply chain hell, and the general hollowing out of the industry that took up about 90% of my typical customer profile. After fighting through with all my might eventually had to shutter my hard won Valencia space - The right shop at the wrong time! Anyway I have scaled back for both age and health reasons. Still active though!
Hopefully I can bring some unique insights to the table. Although the majority of my instruments (roughly 430 of them exist in cinematic production studios around the world) were typically made of wood, I have pivoted over to composites over the last decade. Initially I was doing carbon fiber but I started specializing more in industrial hemp construction after some frustrations with CF. I migrated into this direction after burning out from weather whiplash events and fickle woods doing what fickle woods do (crack warp move and I’m allergic to many exotics) I was also after something repeatable and trainable for a team of technicians. I almost pulled it off! It did not age well with the times and so I’m still doing it on a smaller scale. Hopefully some of my unusual approaches can complement some of the stuff that happens here on talk bass - I know Bruce has been active here for a very long time so it seemed like a solid community of various deep dives!
Anyway thanks for having me!
Jonathan Wilson
