This episode is part of a new Biography Edition of Life With Strings Attached, a space to pause and reflect on the people behind the instruments. It's been our experience that these remarkable ideas come from remarkable people, who have a depth and character that cannot be easily distinguished from the things that they create.

This Biography Edition of Life With Strings Attached tells the story of Mike Sankey, a luthier whose work resists category and whose life unfolded through detours, doubts, and deep listening.

Told in Mike’s own words, what emerges is not just a portrait of a builder, but of a mindset. One shaped by patience, instinct, and a quiet resistance to convention.

Sankey didn’t set out to make guitars the world had never seen. He simply built what felt honest and trusted that someone out there would hear it.

🔗 Explore Mike's Work
Website: https://sankeyguitars.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/sankeyguitars

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached and Boutique Guitar Showcase:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase

Support the deeper conversations:
🔗 The Business of Guitar – Patreon

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

Dan Furman, PhD, is a neuroscientist, Harvard graduate, and co-founder of Arctop, a company developing real-time brain-computer interface software that translates electrical activity from the brain into usable data. In this episode, Dan joins Jamie Gale for a far-reaching conversation about music, emotion, memory, and how we might one day listen to what the brain is really saying.

Together, they explore the line between treatment and enhancement, the future of wearable brain tech, and what it means for artists, musicians, and humans at large to work with feedback loops that respond to our inner state.

Whether you're a curious mind, a long-time listener, or someone who senses there’s more going on beneath the surface, this episode offers a window into a fascinating frontier.

Learn more here:
https://arctop.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieljfurman/

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached and Boutique Guitar Showcase:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase

Support the deeper conversations:
🔗 The Business of Guitar – Patreon

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

Few people have shaped the way we understand the electric guitar like Jan Herbst and Steve Waksman. Both have spent their careers asking deeper questions about sound, design, meaning, and the role of technology in music.

Steve is the author of Instruments of Desire, the first major academic study of the electric guitar. Jan is a leading voice in the study of music production and amplification, known for bridging theory with practice. Together, they co-edited The Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar, a landmark work in the field.

In this episode, they sit down with Jamie to talk about what amplification really means, how iconic designs became cultural landmarks, and why the future of the guitar may depend on how willing we are to rethink what we’ve come to accept.

It’s a conversation about guitars, yes, but also about innovation, legacy, and how progress often starts with listening differently.

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached and Boutique Guitar Showcase:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase

Support the deeper conversations:
🔗 The Business of Guitar – Patreon

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

[re-upload with improved audio quality]

Legendary guitar repairman, luthier, and educator Dan Erlewine (StewMac) joins us for a conversation on innovation, legacy, and the craft behind the music.

In this episode of Life With Strings Attached, we reflect on Dan’s early inspirations, his journey into guitar building and repair, and the unforeseen innovations that have left a permanent mark on the industry. Along the way, we explore how chance, necessity, and curiosity have led to the evolution of sound itself — and what legacy truly means for the generations that follow.

Whether you're an experienced luthier, a player, or simply passionate about the world of guitars, this conversation offers rare insights from one of the field’s true masters.

Discover Dan Erlewine’s work:
🔗 Dan Erlewine
🔗 StewMac
🔗 YouTube

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached and Boutique Guitar Showcase:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase

Support the deeper conversations:
🔗 The Business of Guitar – Patreon

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

Michael Tobias didn’t set out to change the sound of modern music, but that’s exactly what he did. In this episode, he joins Jamie Gale to reflect on five decades of instrument building, from the early days of repairing guitars in Washington, D.C., to founding Tobias Guitars, surviving corporate life at Gibson, and ultimately creating MTD: a brand that quietly redefined what a bass could be.

Together, they trace the evolution of tonewood, the philosophy behind zero frets, and why electric instruments are more acoustic than most players realize. Michael shares lessons from factory floors, family workshops, and near-catastrophic failures - plus a look into the future as his son Daniel carries the torch.

This is not just the story of a bass builder - it’s a story about listening, adapting, and building instruments that speak for themselves.

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached and Boutique Guitar Showcase:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase

Support the deeper conversations:
🔗 The Business of Guitar – Patreon

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

What does a concept artist who’s worked on Harry Potter, Transformers, and The Expanse have to say about boutique guitars?

Plenty, as it turns out.

In this episode of Life With Strings Attached, Jamie Gale talks with Tim Warnock — a former matte painter at Industrial Light & Magic and co-founder of Northfront Studio — about what it means to build creative identity in a world that often values imitation over intention.

They discuss digital design vs. analog expression, why Tim upgrades budget guitars instead of chasing luxury models, and how the discipline of composition, mood, and light connects every creative craft — whether you're designing a video game, photographing a guitar, or building one from scratch.

~
Tim Warnock:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2157264/
https://www.timwarnockstudio.com/
https://www.artstation.com/timwarnock
https://zerply.com/timwarnock
~

Jamie Gale is a thought leader who rose to prominence in the guitar industry by simplifying complex concepts. In his weekly podcast "Life With Strings Attached", he engages in cross-disciplinary discussions to reveal how everything from guitar design to architecture, philosophy, physics and more can be better understood if you learn to see the universal truths that underpin our world.

Because everything in life is better understood if you can learn to see the strings attached.

You can listen to Life With Strings Attached wherever you get your podcasts, or join the Patreon to access the ad-free video and audio versions of every episode, as well as a host of other exclusive content.

My Patreon: / businessofguitar
LWSA Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4VdmNVM...
LWSA Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
All my links: https://linktr.ee/jamiegale

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached and Boutique Guitar Showcase:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase

Support the deeper conversations:
🔗 The Business of Guitar – Patreon

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

What does it take to stay creative in the face of chaos?

In this episode of Life With Strings Attached, Jamie Gale sits down with Bob Robinson — a luthier, furniture maker, and all-around builder — to hear how his journey took him from working in gang territory on Chicago’s West Side to redefining what it means to make a classical guitar.

They explore the lessons learned in violence, the quiet joy of craft, and how to build a life that doesn’t just survive — but resonates.

A story of danger, reinvention, and craftsmanship without compromise.

~
Bob Robinson:
https://robertrobinsonguitars.com/
https://www.instagram.com/robertrobinsonluthier/
https://www.facebook.com/robertrobinsonluthier/
https://www.troscandesign.com/
~

Jamie Gale is a thought leader who rose to prominence in the guitar industry by simplifying complex concepts. In his weekly podcast "Life With Strings Attached", he engages in cross-disciplinary discussions to reveal how everything from guitar design to architecture, philosophy, physics and more can be better understood if you learn to see the universal truths that underpin our world.

Because everything in life is better understood if you can learn to see the strings attached.

You can listen to Life With Strings Attached wherever you get your podcasts, or join the Patreon to access the ad-free video and audio versions of every episode, as well as a host of other exclusive content.

My Patreon: / businessofguitar
LWSA Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4VdmNVM...
LWSA Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
All my links: https://linktr.ee/jamiegale

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached and Boutique Guitar Showcase:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase

Support the deeper conversations:
🔗 The Business of Guitar – Patreon

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

In this episode of Life With Strings Attached, Jamie Gale speaks with German luthier Frank Deimel, a builder whose instruments blend fine craftsmanship with punk energy, political commentary, and sonic experimentation.

Frank shares the unexpected path that took him from classical guitar dropout to one of the most original voices in modern guitar making — including factory work at Warwick, industrial design school in Berlin, and his enduring love for offset guitars and outsider art. Along the way, we dive into what it means to build tools for rebellion, beauty, and sound — and how guitars can still carry cultural weight.

This isn’t just about instruments — it’s about identity, intention, and doing things your own way.

~
Frank Deimel:
https://deimelguitarworks.com/
https://www.instagram.com/deimelguitarworks/
https://www.facebook.com/DeimelGuitarworks/
~

Jamie Gale is a thought leader who rose to prominence in the guitar industry by simplifying complex concepts. In his weekly podcast "Life With Strings Attached", he engages in cross-disciplinary discussions to reveal how everything from guitar design to architecture, philosophy, physics and more can be better understood if you learn to see the universal truths that underpin our world.

Because everything in life is better understood if you can learn to see the strings attached.

You can listen to Life With Strings Attached wherever you get your podcasts, or join the Patreon to access the ad-free video and audio versions of every episode, as well as a host of other exclusive content.

My Patreon: / businessofguitar
LWSA Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4VdmNVM...
LWSA Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
All my links: https://linktr.ee/jamiegale

Watch the video version on YouTube:
🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached

Learn more about Life With Strings Attached and Boutique Guitar Showcase:
🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase

Support the deeper conversations:
🔗 The Business of Guitar – Patreon

Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.