The Humboldt Park sculptor with a client list like a Lollapalooza lineup.

BY KYLE PETERSON

July 23, 2013

The custom creations coming out of Specimen Products end up in the hands of Jack White and the halls of the MCA.

The Wilco loft is populated with a thicket of guitars dense enough to pose a fire hazard. At least a few of those sprang from the imagination of Ian Schneller, sculptor, luthier and owner of Humboldt Park-based Specimen Products.

Schneller has counted Jeff Tweedy as a client since the days when both were struggling to hack it in artistic professions that aren’t always kind to the bank account.

“I remember Sue Miller, Jeff’s wife and the proprietor of Lounge Ax, coming into my old shop with a jar of tip money, mostly soggy singles, and buying that first guitar for Jeff as a present,” Schneller says.

(Dead Link – Read full story and see slide show of shop photos.)