Combining art with ergonomics, Greg Bogoshian designs and crafts custom-made guitars in his Irondequoit home.
Bogoshian, a 37-year veteran at Xerox, works in engineering design. His career and love for music has helped him create Rock Beach Guitars, the custom-making company he operates out of his basement workshop.
“I’m one of those that have a gut instinct of what makes things tick,” he said. “Sure enough, it seems like every guitar I’ve built has had so much character.”
Bogoshian uses unique woods, traveling across the state to choose different grains and types of woods. He was never a woodworker, but after stopping into Pittsford Lumber he saw a piece of African Padauk — a red straight grain specific to central and West Africa.
“I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to do something with this,’” he said.
He bought one piece — one inch thick, six inches wide and three feet long — and knew this would be a part of his first guitar.
He created prototypes of the chambered body guitar, working with simple plywood to create the demo. After perfecting the dimensions, and adding in specialized features, he created the first guitar with a purchased neck.
“I’ll be darned if the thing didn’t sound really cool,” he said. “This was all new to me. That thing sounded so cool, and it did what I wanted it to do.”
Bogoshian tweaked the typical guitar design, creating a body that will aid those that may have back or shoulder problems, like himself. He has had four shoulder and two back surgeries, which push him into pain when playing a store-bought guitar. The curves in his guitar are made to be able to sit evenly on a person’s lap.
“You should never have to battle the guitar,” he said.
Buttons on the bottom of the guitar not only serve as shoulder strap buttons, but also as a way to hold the guitar straight up when leaned against a wall or furniture. The chambered body and different, exotic woods create a lightweight instrument.
“I want to keep them light, because I want to keep them comfortable,” he said.
Other features that separate Bogoshian’s guitars from store-bought instrument include the output jack: It’s located in a protected position, in order to keep the cord from pulling out if stepped on.
Bogoshian has been making more guitars using different-colored, grained and exotic woods.
Cuban Mahogany — “the cream of the crop,” according to Bogoshian — is another wood used often for Rock Beach Guitars, working the dense Caribbean wood into chambered, or hollowed, guitars. Kelela — an exotic, South Pacific wood — is lightweight and can be used for solid body guitars.
