My father was a merchant marine — a sailor. By the time I moved to New York City at 19, I'd already lived in more places than most people do in a lifetime, and heard a lot of different music along the way.

But what I really heard, underneath all of it, was the bass: the glue, the melody, the rhythm.

My first bass, at 15, was the first fretless Fender ever made. That encounter — the bass as a physical thing, an instrument you could hold — stuck with me. It set the tone for what I'd eventually want to build myself: something straightforward and dependable, with an up-front sound that cuts through a mix without fighting it. Built for players.

Since then I've owned and played a fair number of instruments. Mostly P-basses — my first love. A few J-types, an Alembic, a PRS. And then there are the Gibbies: those quirky, infinitely variable, endearing commercial flops I can't help loving.

I trained at The Gallup School in Michigan, where I completed the master luthier program. Later, studying with Charles Fox taught me how much fun this work can be — and that it's never really about pretty things. It's about the music.

And then there was a year and a half at Sadowsky Guitars in Long Island City, sanding, fretting, leveling, and polishing, immersed in Roger's aesthetic and his relentless standard for quality. Meeting Roger was something I never imagined, let alone working for him. He remains a dear friend and a great mentor.

All of these people shaped me — their wisdom, their experience, their patience. I'm grateful to every one of them, and I hold none of them responsible for whatever comes out of my small but mighty shop in Burlington, Vermont. That part's all me.

And so is L.H. McCurdy Basses.