Steve Campbell has always been a fantastic artist. He started with oil painting when he was very young and began playing guitar and violin when he was only 11 years old. So it is not hard to see where this ability for making such beautiful instruments came from when you look at the whole picture…no pun intended.
Steve made his first instrument, a violin, when he was playing with a blues band in LaGrande Oregon. He took used parts and added a plexiglass body with a really "cool" crinkle paint job and it sounded great! But sad news came when it accidentally got broke during a jam session. So Steve made another one using finger-joint pine, however that did not sound so well. This experience brought Steve on a journey to learn about tone woods and why it makes a difference in the wood you use, and how you use it.
Then, he came up with an amazing design. A solid body violin; that not only resounded a beautiful tone, but was absolutely wonderful to look upon. All this while working at a tree trimming service and selling a violin here and there.
On a brisk early morning, Steve learned that Breedlove Guitars was hiring. He gathered up his work in a portfolio and walked in. Nerves high, sweat pouring and eyes dialated Steve was hired! He spent around 4 years working and learning. His family loved they had a "body builder" for a dad. But during his time at Breedlove, Steve was being gifted woods, tools and more wood. So seeing the pattern, he began to create in his tiny garage.
One day a good friend, Wanda Henry, decided to commission Steve to build a guitar for her son. That guitar was one of the first built in the garage and one that helped give Steve the motivation to go out on his own with his style of guitars. He has now built over 100 instruments and he couldn't be happier with his work.
-Ronalee Campbell (Steve's Wife)
