After he became a graduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1984, Specimen Products expanded into a music and instrument-making endeavor — first to fulfill Ian’s own personal needs, and then for his friends, fellow bandmates (Shrimp Boat), and other musicians (Tar, Red Red Meat, Coctails). A growing clientele quickly turned his little ruse into a real company.

Since 1986 Specimen has operated out of four different Chicago locations. At first it was housed on Archer Street on Chicago’s south side, in an old lamp factory that was a labyrinth of funny little spaces with several walk-in safes and gingerbread hutches. There was an electricity room, an aquarium room, a woodshop, a metal shop, a darkroom, a music room with adjoining recording cubicles and control room, and several bedrooms. There Ian and his roommates even operated our their radio station with a broadcasting range of only one-quarter mile — enough to reach Interstate 55 with a constant flow of their own music. It was like the rock ‘n’ roll Little Rascals. This is where Ian started to make musical instruments and began his formative study of tube amplification.

“With formal training as a sculptor, not as a luthier, it felt like I was putting one over. I read everything I could get my hands on, notably Don Teeter’s two-volume set The Acoustic Guitar and Hideo Kamimoto’s Complete Guitar Repair. I realized that my instruments were not only quite usable but were gaining favor among local musicians. I sold only one instrument on Archer Street — a Hybrid Pippin — but I had many others in tow as we packed up the caravan and moved onward.”

In 1992, Specimen moved into an old Salvation Army building on Madison Street, an immense two-floor space in the middle of what was then no man’s land. This space included a rehearsal room where his new band, Falstaff, practiced. He also rented out his rehearsal space to a little-known-band, Veruca Salt. It was on Madison Street that the business side of Specimen started to grow. Guitar and tube amp repair work became a routine demand and the ever-expanding gallery of one-of-a-kind guitars gave way to Specimen’s first standard models: the Pippin and the Maxwell. Ian also began producing versions of his standard models emulating the traditional production models of major companies. Guitars like the Flame-Top Pippin and Yellow Pippin are examples. He then inverted this concept mimicking the exact silhouettes of major companies’ standard models using radically different materials. This led to the production of the Silvertone series, where he used masonite and pine to build the first-ever Silvertone Tele.

Although Specimen was on Madison Street for only two years, many benchmarks were established there (i.e., fine-tuning of the aluminum body, finishing, neck formats, cosmetic embellishments, and various standard processes). By the end of 1994 many musicians were purchasing Specimen instruments and Ian had a backlog of orders. He also began a small production run of 10-watt Petimor amplifiers that came to fruition after Specimen’s third move into a storefront on Division Street.

This new space, located in the heart of Wicker Park, opened the door to a growing guitar repair business which in turn afforded Ian the most valuable vantage point for his own work.

“After having to correct the numerous shortcomings of my customers’ equipment and make sense of the growing number of needlessly elaborate designs on the market, I became convinced that a minimalistic approach with uncompromised structural fortitude is a much-needed credo. I directly applied this learning to my own fifty-watt tube amplifier model, the prototype of which is used as my shop’s service amp, running eight hours a day, 6 days a week. This amp became my working template, my sonic control group, and a reference for new variation.”

During this time, the Wicker Park neighborhood underwent a renaissance and became Chicago’s hipster mecca. The Division Street shop became an ideal showroom for new Specimens, with a constant stream of local and traveling musicians coming by to see the latest creations. Specimen became known for selling unusual instruments and vintage guitars like 1960s-era Japanese Teiscos, harmoniums, melodicas, primitive Indian drone machines, glockenspiels, and a plethora of instruments made by niche companies. Word got out and touring bands often made Specimen a destination when they passed through town. During this time Ian began working with Andrew Bird after he stopped in one day for a guitar repair and saw Ian’s newest creation-the horn speaker. By 1999 Ian produced and sold more than 100 custom guitars and tube amplifiers.

In the summer of 2003, due to an expanding service and custom clientele, Specimen moved the Division Street shop into a larger industrial space located in Humboldt Park on Chicago’s west side. This improved workshop is equipped with new tools and fixtures for spraying, buffing, and design. Here Ian continued creating custom guitars including new models like the Luddite, eLute, and electric mandolin, he also continued to develop his horn speakers and created the Janus Double Spinning horn speakers, XL Horn Speakers and Little Horn Speakers. Inspired by his work with horn speakers, Ian delved into the High Fidelity world with a new line of stereo amplifiers and subwoofers.

In 2005, after years of receiving resumes and inquiries from people wanting to learn how to build and repair guitars, Specimen began the Chicago School of Guitar Making. Students now come to Specimen from all over the US, Canada and Europe to learn guitar repair, guitar building and tube amp building. Since its debut in 2005, thousands of students have taken classes at the school.

The number of new Specimens quickly grew and now Ian has made more than 800 instruments, amps and horn speakers all by hand in his Chicago workshop. 2018 marks Specimen’s 32nd. Anniversary!

 

CHICAGO SCHOOL OF GUITAR MAKING

Chicago has a rich tradition in guitar making – it used to be the Guitar Making Capital of the World! But with the growing inclination of big US companies manufacturing their instruments outside the US using CNC machines instead of traditional building techniques, and nearly all electronics vocational programs being withdrawn from our schools, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for the budding student interested in the tradition of guitar building and repair. The Chicago School of Guitar Making wants to keep the tradition of lutherie alive and thriving with the hope of inspiring new generations for many years to come.

 

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While there are a number of Luthier Schools out there, most of them require their students enroll in an intensive (and sometimes expensive) 6-12 month program. Our goal is to be the school for people who want to learn but can not leave their home, families, or job to embark in this new venture.

Classes and workshops are held weekdays, weekends and evenings to accommodate busy schedules. Courses can be taken one-at-a-time, all at once, or whenever convenient to the student.

Specimen opened the Chicago School of Guitar Making in 2005 as a response to the growing number of resumes and internship inquiries we received every week for nearly 20 years. We recognized people were hungry to learn, but there was no place in Chicago for them to study and be trained to build and repair guitars.

We started with a basic offering: Guitar Setup. From there we added a Fret Workshop and Guitar Electronics Course. Soon it became apparent these classes weren’t enough, alumni were waiting for more, and many of them were asking about tube amp training, more complex guitar repair techniques, and guitar building classes. Things were going great and word about us spread outside of Chicago. To meet the need, we opened our first Weekend Seminars in Guitar Setup & Electronics, others soon followed and hosted classes for people coming from other states, Canada, Europe, and even Asia. Since then we have added the Tube Amp Diagnostics & Repair, Tube Amplifier Making, Guitar Making, and Guitar Repair Courses to our curriculum.

For news and additional details about our school, including information about the staff, facility and the classes we teach, please visit this page and our FAQ page.