What happened to Knuckle Guitar Works?

[Bob_Ross]

Anyone know if Skip Fantry & Knuckle Guitar Works are still in business? Their website appears to be MIA
Link Removed

There seemed to be a lot of buzz on TB about the Knuckle Quake basses from several years back, but I haven't seen any recent mention of them.

 

[Dan B]

Was wondering about them as well. Wonder what happened.

 

[ctmullins]

The same guy runs what used to be called Circle K Strings, but they're now re-branded as Kalium Strings. Link Removed is alive and well.

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

Perhaps you could contact him via the string site
and ask what's up?

 

[gscroggin]

Older thread, but wondering the same thing. Skip Fantry has been building me a bass for about 10 years now...but the last I've heard from him was May of 2015. It's always been hit or miss with communication, but I'm wondering now if we've actually hit the wall. A recent email to knuckleguitarworks.com got bounced. I've since tried him at a gmail address I have as well as Kalium Strings, but that's assuming he's still involved with that. I also called a number I had for him, but that appears to be disconnected.

If anyone knows how to get a hold of him, I'm all ears

 

[MEKer]

Older thread, but wondering the same thing. Skip Fantry has been building me a bass for about 10 years now...but the last I've heard from him was May of 2015. It's always been hit or miss with communication, but I'm wondering now if we've actually hit the wall. A recent email to knuckleguitarworks.com got bounced. I've since tried him at a gmail address I have as well as Kalium Strings, but that's assuming he's still involved with that. I also called a number I had for him, but that appears to be disconnected.

If anyone knows how to get a hold of him, I'm all ears

That's terrible. 10 years = never gonna happen. Hope you did not lose too much dough on that. Sounds like he needs a good horse whippin' !

 

[lug]

Seems odd. I knew Skip online for many years and know several of his customers from the Knuckle days. They were all delighted with his service.

 

[Runnerman]

Older thread, but wondering the same thing. Skip Fantry has been building me a bass for about 10 years now...but the last I've heard from him was May of 2015. It's always been hit or miss with communication, but I'm wondering now if we've actually hit the wall. A recent email to knuckleguitarworks.com got bounced. I've since tried him at a gmail address I have as well as Kalium Strings, but that's assuming he's still involved with that. I also called a number I had for him, but that appears to be disconnected.

If anyone knows how to get a hold of him, I'm all ears

Hope you don't have a lot of dough sunk into that build.

 

[gscroggin]

I actually heard from him last night, PM me if you want the address that worked. I'm going to be giving him a call today or tomorrow.

I also happened to dig up the original order letter...July 11, 2007! I'm not bad mouthing Skip here, this whole thing has a long involved story to it. There used to be another forum for extended range that had the whole build and stuff, but I honestly don't remember the web site at this point. It's just been a long road.

Who knows, perhaps this will actually still happen. I'm an eternal optimist...or at least try to play one on TV

 

[ixlramp]

Yeah he's still involved with Kalium, in fact he's the one who makes everything, not surprising his luthiery has slowed down the last few years.
Knuckle Guitar Works is being brought into Kalium as Kalium Guitar Works, and will also be building designs by the other Kalium guy Chris Cardone (C3), such as the Churchill:

Link Removed

A new instrument is coming too, called the RIM, an electric upright with scales up to 60", with Kalium's thickest strings this can be tuned as low as D#00, about 10Hz, as in a 5 string bass with low B as the top string D# G# C# F# B.

I was on the old ERB forums and remember your proposed KGW build.

 

[Watchootognbout]

I wonder about you guys who order stuff from these ONE MAN OPERATIONS.
They seem to take more orders that they can handle,get overburdened and go belly up without giving you your product.

 

[gscroggin]

I was on the old ERB forums and remember your proposed KGW build.

Thanks for all the info man. I remember your nick/handle as well. That's a nice looking bass!

 

[gscroggin]

I wonder about you guys who order stuff from these ONE MAN OPERATIONS.
They seem to take more orders that they can handle,get overburdened and go belly up without giving you your product.

Yes, though in Skip's defense, the man has made quiet a few basses under the Knuckle brand, specifically with the Quake. Mine is definitely a one-off...and I definitely knew the risks going into it.

 

[gscroggin]

For those that care, I had a good conversation with Skip on Friday afternoon. The current completion trajectory is Nov 2016, we'll see what happens. We're definitely going to be speaking every 4-6 weeks now though as some things get dialed in.

 

[pablomigraine]

I wonder about you guys who order stuff from these ONE MAN OPERATIONS.
They seem to take more orders that they can handle,get overburdened and go belly up without giving you your product.

A couple of points here... may TB'ers are independent businesspeople, but most are not. Those folks will never understand how much can go wrong due to no fault of the owner, and when those disasters hit.... about the best thing these guys can do is be honest, and ask for patience. When you're running a shop that only takes in $20k - $30k a year, with expenses running pretty close to that or more than that... it's a labor of love for these folks. They do it in order to share a vision.

I can tell you from experience there are some MASSIVE MASSIVE interests who are deeeeply invested in keeping a certain status quo. Is it the coolest thing in the world that 90% of all Electric Basses out there look and act exactly like they did 65 years ago? For some yes, I'm sure. But not for many. Bringing disruptive concepts and technology to the MI market is a challenge very few who haven't been there can ever understand.

For those that care, I had a good conversation with Skip on Friday afternoon. The current completion trajectory is Nov 2016, we'll see what happens. We're definitely going to be speaking every 4-6 weeks now though as some things get dialed in.

After many years of wondering.. I tried a Quake 5 string 39.5" and thought it was very comfortable and it took me about 1 minute and a half to adjust to the scale length.

 

[GBA_]

For those that care, I had a good conversation with Skip on Friday afternoon. The current completion trajectory is Nov 2016, we'll see what happens. We're definitely going to be speaking every 4-6 weeks now though as some things get dialed in.

So did it get made?

 

[Mike U]

Anyone know if Skip Fantry & Knuckle Guitar Works are still in business? Their website appears to be MIA
Link Removed

There seemed to be a lot of buzz on TB about the Knuckle Quake basses from several years back, but I haven't seen any recent mention of them.

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