He loves freshwater fishing and singing pop tunes at the oldest bar in Gilroy, but Jeff Strametz’ passion is making and selling guitars.
Some of the biggest stars on Earth play his instruments.
One model was just named best of breed by an influential European publishing house that rates quality for the industry.
The other thing you need to know is, his instruments don’t have those big sound holes in the middle that folks believe are as essential as strings. Not so.
In the world of melody making, Strametz’ Boulder Creek Guitars company makes decidedly different instruments; they figured out how to make a better musical mousetrap.
Who knew?
Certainly not Strametz, not when it all began.
“I have no background in designing instruments; our background was being musicians, but we had a concept,” is how he explained recently it at the firm’s Gilroy headquarters.
He and his wife, Juli, took over the company in 2014. That was eight years after a former colleague started it and seven years after their exotic-looking guitars hit the market with prices from the mid-hundreds to several thousands of dollars.
The welcome was less than thunderous.
“The initial response was either ‘I don’t like it’ or ‘It bugs me,’” Strametz recalled to guitars that did not match buyers’ visual expectations.
Think about it, the design makes all the sense in the world, he’d tell skeptics among the dealers and professional players who, when it came to guitars, were used to a hole in one.
Now, “Our guitars are played all over the world,” Strametz said proudly from behind his desk in a Gilroy industrial park where he employs a small family of old and loyal friends that includes a former drum instructor and other working musicians.
“There was a lot to overcome, we wanted the highest quality at the best price for aspiring musicians and professionals,” Strametz recalled.
It was the visual impact that opened doors, he said.
“When you hang one on a wall ours stands out immediately, it’s a billboard that instantly creates curiosity, and when they play it, that is when the affirmation comes and they want to know more,” he said.
“They hear something they have never heard with a guitar, it’s a tone, a balance, a volume and a sustain they are not used to,” in an acoustic electric instrument, Strametz said.
“They feel the entire guitar move in their body, the proof is in the pudding,” added former skeptic and master guitar maker Kevin Corcoran, who has his own company but handcrafts all of Boulder Creek’s high-end, $4,600 custom models in Gilroy.
The others models are made in China to Strametz’ exacting standards, overseen by a quality control expert. They sell about 500 to 800 guitars a year; Kevin can make at most 25 to 30 per year.
Without getting too technical the basic concept is, “Offsetting the sound holes and the unique (very light) bracing system take tension off the top and keep it from distorting,” according to Corcoran.
On some models the sound hole is on the upper edge, right below the player’s ear, which allows the musician to hear the instrument better.
So where did the idea come from to reimagine a centuries-old concept?
It has at least some of its beginnings when Gilroy-born Strametz was a drummer boy in Morgan Hill’s Live Oak Emerald Regime Marching Band. The experience gave Strametz what he calls his rock solid foundation in musicianship.
Fast forward and the whiff of innovation that spawned Boulder Creek guitars went something like this: “You don’t cut a hole in the center of a snare drum to make the sound come out, why in a guitar?” It was, he recalled, “Just a thought.”
That thought became Boulder Creek Guitars, so named because its founder, Mike Shellhammer, the designer of the instruments’ patented bracing system, did some of his best tinkering on the banks of Boulder Creek in Santa Cruz County,according to Strametz.
When the firm opened its doors, Strametz was in charge of sales and business development.
It was a deep plunge for a gig musician into a complex and highly competitive international industry driven by megastars and dominated by legendary brand names such as Martin, Gibson and Fender.
Just the thought of what he’d gotten himself into when he and Juli took over and he signed his lease, “Made the hair on my neck stand up,” he said.
Acceptance, however, has made everything better.
The list of performers and groups who play Boulder Creek acoustic electric guitars, bass guitars and ukuleles includes Fleetwood Mac, whose backup guitarist Neale Heywood wrote to Strametz:
“I have been doing some demos for Stevie Nicks’ new album and I’ve been using Boulder Creeks. I have to tell you they sound AMAZING (sic).”
The group’s guitar tech, Roy Kelly, added: ”I have to tell you these are some of the best guitars I have had the pleasure to maintain in my almost 30 years of touring.”
Bassist Chris Shepard wrote: “We just got off the Canadian leg of the Carrie Underwood/Luke Bryan tour…it is the smoothest, richest acoustic bass I have EVER (sic) experienced…I like being able to talk to the fans and have them ask about it, and them actually being able to AFFORD (sic) to get one of their own.”
Others devotees include Larry Gatlin, Sarah McLachlan and Lee Brice.
Bruno Mars’ guitarist Jake Morelli wrote: “I am in complete awe of its sound…Boulder Creek is completely on a whole other level.”
The Strametz’ journey began when the Gilroyan met the Indiana native at South Valley Community Church in Gilroy and they discovered a mutual passion for music.
Once they entered the Boulder Creek world as owners, they found it came with baggage that demanded venting.
“Music is our hobby, our main focus is the business, but gigging is stress relief and the byproduct is the credibility factor for what we do as a business,” Strametz said.
The couple works long hours in the guitar business and routinely rubs shoulders with or hears from international stars, but still are regulars at the Milias Restaurant, a historic landmark in downtown Gilroy where they perform every Wednesday evening.
The couple, both 54, has been married eight years and between them have five children, two still at home, and five grandchildren.
Their recent award for best acoustic electric bass is among several in recent years, and the highest honor so far.
“When we released the basses they immediately got recognized in the top three; 10 years later the bass still is as relevant as when it first came out,” Strametz said.
As for the company’s future, he sees it as a continuation of how things began.
“It was built from a simple idea and a concept that developed into a dream,” he said, “But never thought I would own a guitar company.”
For more information, the company is online at www.bouldercreekguitars.com, or call (408) 842-0222. If you’re interested in a Boulder Creek instrument, you can find them locally at Porcella’s Music in Gilroy, The Monterey Music Store in Monterey and Midtown Guitar Company in Santa Cruz.
