Began my life journey as a musician in 1966 when I bought a (new) Japanese bass for $40 using paper route money from Woolworths Dept Store in Omaha Nebraska. I suffered through learning how to play on a bass with strings high off the fretboard and no real understanding that it could be adjusted better. I couldn't afford an amp but finally got one, a Heathkit that my dad and I built. 

 

An artist from birth - I loved the music around me then and wanted "in" as so many '60s kids did, expanding my creativity into music. Art degrees from the Kansas City Art Institute (BFA) and School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA) kept me busy investigating and making art but all the while playing bass in various bands in Omaha, KC and Chicago.   

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I moved to the Bay Area in 1990 and continued to make art and play music. In 2013, I decided to combine my love of art and music by starting Gildaxe, which initially focused on custom art finishes incorporating the ancient craft of gilding (gold leaf, silver leaf, copper leaf and variegated leaf) and more recently designing my own unique custom bass guitars.