What is an SBO?
SBO simple just means ‘Steve’s Box Of,’ which refers to an old shed in which I stored and worked on some of my earlier guitars. Whilst joking amongst friends I would bring up my desire to eventually build my own guitars from scratch. I joked the name originally as SBOG (Steve’s box of Guitar’s) and they liked it and thought it fitted. I eventually shortened it to SBO as it was weird referring to the original prototype as an SBOG all the time, and felt it was nicer to just say the word guitar rather than keep it an acronym. The original prototype still has the original logo design painted on by my mother!
How I started
I started SBO Guitar’s with no more than just an idea of making my own guitar brand and style. I had very little prior knowledge in the art of guitar making, only really what I had learn’t repairing my old guitars at home. But with a potential career in nursing on the downward spiral, and a lack of drive to find a conventionally stable job. I told myself that 2024 was going to be the year I started a small business working with guitars. My love for the instrument had been brewing since late primary school and always felt I was happier with one around at all times.
So with the idea of what a guitar should look like, I sketched out a design I liked and then took it to some MDF to create the stencil. After ensuring it was the right scale and length to what I wanted, I cut out and sanded the stencils to the shape and thickness I was happy with and finally had my first look at the eventual shape.