About Us

  We have a small Boutique Guitar Shop in Kilgore Texas. I have been building electric guitars and basses since 1978, I have also worked in the Aerospace Industry since 1990, and my main fields of expertise are carbon fiber aerospace structures, R&D and Aerospace manufacturing. : 

I was born in Western NC into a VERY musical family rooted in Bluegrass. My Father was (and still is) a virtuoso musician, master woodworker, furniture builder and carpenter, I learned my skillset from him at an early age. Fall of 1978 changed everything for me when my cousin Steven brought Van-Halen’s first album to my house and dropped it on the turntable. I had already begun cobbling together Guitars and Bases at 15, I bought 3 Aria Pro II necks from Wilson’s Music and bodies that I fashioned from cabinet plywood, off to the races! Later came the mail order Boogie Bodies, Warmoth Guitar etc. and after I acquired a B&D Router I began building and shaping necks from scratch. Asheville wasn’t too far away, and they had specialty lumber yards along with an enormous public library.  

Up to this point in my life, I had primarily worked in my family’s construction business. In 1990 things changed and I decided to pursue a career in Aviation Maintenance. I continued to build guitars as a hobby and provided luthier services for most of the locals. All the while still playing guitar in local bands.  

It was in the early 90s that my destiny would forever be changed. I started to design and build my own unique guitars; I was back and forth between the influences of what would eventually be termed a “Super Strat” and the Rickenbacker guitar designs. If you look back at pictures of my work from that era through the mid-2000s you can certainly see the Ric influences. I was fascinated with the neck heel and body joint design. It was an inspirational work of art riddled with weaknesses and problems. I believed that I could solve these problems with a “Bolt-On” design and that idea would stay in the back of my mind for the next 20 years. About that same timeframe I encountered a PRS in person (still very rare and Rickenbacker’s were even more scarce) and realized that it had the exact same neck heel and body joint design as the Ric. I bought a very well-used one to experiment with. Vibratory dynamics testing revealed that my theory was correct. The entire guitar would vibrate around the neck to body joint (Node) causing all kinds of “Ghost Resonance” (muddiness) in the guitar’s output and it got much worse at higher volumes due to the increase of acoustic kinetic energy. This joint was the weak link in the chain and if I was ever going to use this type of heel and body joint design this problem would have to be solved. A problem that I would not reassess for at least another 20 years because as life would have it… I went in a completely different direction. 

In 1996 as a temporary assignment, I was attached to a German Aircraft Propeller Company as a technical consultant for a R&D project. This was the beginning of my “carbon fiber composite” and “vibratory dynamics” journey. In 1998 I began design and prototype development of a carbon fiber and wood neck for a guitar or bass. I applied for a US Patent. 

ROCKMACE GUITARS was born in 2000, Scott Rock, Rick Stewart and myself all played music together and to various degrees built guitars. Sold exclusively at Ed Roman Guitars in Las Vegas and Tempo Music Center in Hendersonville NC. For the next 10 years we were the trio of craftsmen behind RockMace Guitars, US Patent 6,774,292 was issued to me, and I worked as the master luthier until the company was dissolved. Rick had his own independent guitar company by then (Vengeance Guitars) and I licensed the patent to him, sadly he would unexpectedly pass away a few years later but not before making a mark on the boutique guitar business.  

RockMace Guitars crossed paths with many unique artists and builders. I made all the necks prior to the acquisition by Vengeance Guitars and RockMace took on a lot of contract work R&D projects (MODULUS before they went under) as well as “Ghost Projects”. I have made necks and/or guitars for many well-known artists: James MacDonough of Megadeth 2004-2006 toured with RockMace Dragon Basses, Custom carbon fiber neck equipped V for Dave Mustaine, Carbon fiber necks for; Brad Gillis of Night Ranger, Ted Nugent, Paul Crook, Rick Derringer, Buck Dharma, Brian May, Billy Gibbons and others. Vengeance Guitars continued this legacy and made instruments licensed under the US Patent 6,774,292 for Phil Collen of Def Leppard, Stryper and Lizzy Hale. Throwdown Jones is still touring with all of the guitarist and bass players using RockMace Guitars or custom instruments that I have made. I also worked for Zion Guitars in Raleigh NC for a short period of time. 

In 2003 I married Tamara and for 22 years she has been my best friend, greatest supporter and worst critic.  

After separation from RockMace Guitars my wife Tamara and myself continued to make necks and guitars as LRM Guitar Products, mostly for other manufacturers. Until 2012. 

In 2012 My wife and I decided to start our own Aviation Maintenance Company, AGL Aviation LLC, it grew like wildfire, and we were very successful and busy as a Mooney Aircraft factory Service Center.  

In 2022 we sold AGL Aviation and moved to Texas, we both accepted positions at Don Maxwell Aviation, also a Mooney Aircraft factory Service Center.  

In 2023 I put pen to paper to solve the neck to body joint problem that had been on my mind for decades. The solutions resulted in two separate Patent Applications. I began a new R&D program to develop what I had dreamed of for years, a totally new guitar and neck design that would correct all inherent problems of the most popular contemporary guitars and improve on their weaknesses through innovative engineering and advanced composite materials while retaining a traditional instrument’s tonal quality, beauty, core construction, feel and appearance.  

Building a better World.