Meet the person behind 'Smith Fabrication'
by Luke Taylor
July 03, 2015
For TK Smith, what's old is truly new again. "All the stuff I build is all technology that was available in the late '40s to the mid-'50s," Smith says. "That's kind of my favorite time period of the way guitars and guitar-playing sounded, so that's kind of what I focus on."
From his 1,600-square-foot workshop in Yucca Valley, Calif., Smith builds and customizes guitars. Even his tools are vintage. "Probably the newest thing is from the 50s, which is a drill press," he says. "My buffer goes back to the 1920s and still runs perfect. They used to make things so much better back then."
Although the Twin Cities are more than 1,800 miles from Yucca Valley, many in this area may recognize the name of TK Smith's company, particularly if they've seen JD McPherson perform.
Explaining the shirt that has become part of his standard onstage attire, McPherson described his friends in Southern California. "[TK is] a good friend and musician and artisan, a craftsman," he told Bill DeVille in an interview on The Current. "His wife, Jill, makes these amazing reproduction jerseys that say 'Smith Fabrication'."
Smith says he and McPherson had corresponded for a number of years over email, after crossing paths at the Viva Las Vegas rockabilly festival some years ago, where Smith was playing guitar in the Western swing band Smith's Ranch Boys and McPherson was performing with his band. It was only a couple of years ago the two finally got to hang out in person, meeting up at the Doheny Blues Festival where McPherson was performing. Since then, a solid friendship has flourished.
At his workshop, TK Smith turns out his Smith Special guitars; for McPherson, however, he designed a custom model. "It was kind of JD's idea," Smith recalls. "He's really into the guitar-body shape that Bo Diddley had in the late '50s. I'd never done it before, but it was fun to do, for sure."
The guitar incorporates the usual Smith Special accouterments, including pickups hand wound by Smith himself, modeled after what pioneering electric-guitar builder Paul Bigsby was doing in the 1940s. In addition, the guitar's neck runs all the way through the body, which comprises four hollow chambers, so it's not too heavy. "It's built like Paul Bigsby built his guitars," Smith says.
Another inspiration Bigsby provided was the motorcycle jersey. Prior to working as a guitar builder, Bigsby was a foreman at the L.A. machine shop of the Crocker Motorcycle Company. Bigsby had also raced motorcycles and had worn long-sleeved jerseys emblazoned with the Crocker motif. Smith's wife Jill started making replica jerseys and launched another business line under the name Hometown Jersey.
But Smith appears to have no sights on becoming a captain of industry. Having spent much of his life in Los Angeles traffic, he's happy to have lived in Yucca Valley for the past 10 years, where his workshop is only a mile from his home. What's more, Smith's connections to the area run deep, as both of his grandfathers settled in the area in the 1920s.
"I've been coming out here my whole life," Smith says. "I love it."
JD McPherson performs at A Prairie Home Companion on Saturday, July 4, at 4:45 p.m. at the Great Lawn of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.
