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Custom guitars by a man who did it his own way

Patrick Fort
/
Aspen Public Radio

It’s cleaning week in Miles Phillips’ workshop. The scent of wood wafts through the air, and sawdust floats through the room. Phillips says that his shop is a bit dirtier than usual. It's important to keep his space clean because any speck of dust could scratch a very expensive instrument.

All of the tools are hanging on peg boards or magnetic bars. There are small parts like tuning pegs and strings neatly organized, and a standing tool box which he calls his “pride and joy” sits neatly in the corner.

It’s the studio where he operates Miles Phillips Custom Guitars.

Phillips built his first instrument in high school, a five-string bass. He calls it the “Prince” bass. It has carved swirls that look like something Prince would have played. Then, in his senior year of high school, Phillips built two acoustic guitars. He calls one “the log”, because "it plays like a log," he jokes.

 

After graduating from high school, he didn’t want to go to college. He found an instrument building program in British Columbia. Now at 23, Phillips makes about 20 instruments a year.

 

Playing the guitar is therapeutic for Phillips. It helps him get back to center.

“Music is clarity," Phillips says. "It’s the reset button. If I’ve been having a bad day, I like to go upstairs and wail on guitar and try and sound great for an hour. Maybe sound great for five minutes, but it’s a cleansing thing.”

Credit Patrick Fort / Aspen Public Radio
/
Aspen Public Radio
Miles Phillips, 23, holds a mandolin that he is currently building.

Phillips works four jobs. He works in construction, teaches skiing for AVSC, plays music and of course builds guitars.  He was even building skis for a while. Sometimes, after working one job an entire day, he has to force himself to start another full work day building instruments. His business, though, is something that is too important to him to give up.

 

“It’s something that I’m nurturing and trying to make succeed and having success with," he says. "Just saying ‘I can’t do it’ at the end of the day doesn’t work for me because it doesn’t live up to everything I’ve already put into it.”

One of the best moments of his guitar building career happened a few years ago...He had previously met a member of the band Thievery Corporation. One day, Phillips got a phone call. It was the band asking to have a bass made. That was great, but getting to the venue was no easy task. He had car troubles, so he had to convince a friend to drive him down. Then when Phillips got to the venue, the security guard didn’t believe that he had built this instrument. It took some convincing to prove that he wasn’t joking.

 

“After I got the bass player on the phone, the guy realized I wasn’t messing around," Phillips says.

 

Once backstage, the instrument finally made it into the hands of its musician. The bassist took it out and inspected it.

 

“Then he put it back in the case and said ‘alright guys, follow me.’"

Phillips has a business partner that helps him in the shop. He plans to up his production to thirty instruments next year. Phillips says that buying an instrument he makes is making a purchase for quality over quantity. He doesn’t own any name-brand guitars. Everything he plays, he owns.

 

Phillips was born here. His parents have been helping him along the way, he says that he is grateful for the opportunities he’s had.

 

“Family’s everything. Also working for your worth is everything to me, too," Phillips says. "I’ve been super fortunate that I didn’t have to think twice about this profession. I’ve had help the entire way.”

Phillips’ next big project is restoring an upright bass. You can also find him playing one of his dozen guitars.