chriswhite
06-03-2011, 12:56 AM
I started my own business!
Back in December I was on the verge of quitting my current job. There was very poor management, no raises and a lot... I mean A LOT of overtime. I was working easily 12-14 hours a day about 60+ hours per week. This had been going on for a few months and 5 of my coworkers quit because of it. It felt like upper management was lining their pockets as our company was growing and they weren't passing that on to the people that make the business possible.
I am a huge fan of actor/writer/director Kevin Smith and someone on Twitter, at the time, had recently lost their job and had the "chance to start over" and asked Kevin what he should do next. And Kevin's response (http://connectedcomedy.com/kevin-smiths-secrets-to-a-successful-life/) was so inspiring for me I decided to go to school to build guitars and maybe one day build some of my own. I've always wanted to work for Tom, in fact my first ever job application went to him. He said no and that was ok, I was 16 and knew nothing about anything. But its something that I've always wanted to do. Looking up finances and taking classes just didn't seem feasible then. I decided to start small and just build pickups and if that started to go well than maybe one day I will try my hand at some guitars.
In the last 6 months I have been studying and building pickups and I have to be honest I have been having the time of my life with this. I've never had a project or work that I have been so wrapped up in and so enthusiastic about. I have a lot to learn still as I continue to build and try new things but my goal with this has not been to copy anyone elses specific specs. I want to have options for everyone so I have your typical Vintage style pickups and some a little more modern and more in my brain that I want to try out. Tom's pickups are some of the best I've played and even having 3 Andersons I never once pulled a pickup to study it, I dont want my pickups to sounds like Andersons, I want them to be as good but I want them to sound like Chris White's Pickups and I want them to be something that everyone can fall in love with.
Things have been getting better at work so I decided to let that be my day job and building pickups my hobby, something I can do at nights and on the weekends and offer people something that has literally changed my life.
I just launched my website last week. Check it out
www.chriswhitepickups.com
sorry for the long story but thanks for enduring it.
Back in December I was on the verge of quitting my current job. There was very poor management, no raises and a lot... I mean A LOT of overtime. I was working easily 12-14 hours a day about 60+ hours per week. This had been going on for a few months and 5 of my coworkers quit because of it. It felt like upper management was lining their pockets as our company was growing and they weren't passing that on to the people that make the business possible.
I am a huge fan of actor/writer/director Kevin Smith and someone on Twitter, at the time, had recently lost their job and had the "chance to start over" and asked Kevin what he should do next. And Kevin's response (http://connectedcomedy.com/kevin-smiths-secrets-to-a-successful-life/) was so inspiring for me I decided to go to school to build guitars and maybe one day build some of my own. I've always wanted to work for Tom, in fact my first ever job application went to him. He said no and that was ok, I was 16 and knew nothing about anything. But its something that I've always wanted to do. Looking up finances and taking classes just didn't seem feasible then. I decided to start small and just build pickups and if that started to go well than maybe one day I will try my hand at some guitars.
In the last 6 months I have been studying and building pickups and I have to be honest I have been having the time of my life with this. I've never had a project or work that I have been so wrapped up in and so enthusiastic about. I have a lot to learn still as I continue to build and try new things but my goal with this has not been to copy anyone elses specific specs. I want to have options for everyone so I have your typical Vintage style pickups and some a little more modern and more in my brain that I want to try out. Tom's pickups are some of the best I've played and even having 3 Andersons I never once pulled a pickup to study it, I dont want my pickups to sounds like Andersons, I want them to be as good but I want them to sound like Chris White's Pickups and I want them to be something that everyone can fall in love with.
Things have been getting better at work so I decided to let that be my day job and building pickups my hobby, something I can do at nights and on the weekends and offer people something that has literally changed my life.
I just launched my website last week. Check it out
www.chriswhitepickups.com
sorry for the long story but thanks for enduring it.