A perfect pairing

Roy Bowen poses in front of his workstation at RS Guitarworks, the guitar shop he operates with his business partner, Scott Leedy. “We started out in my basement back in 1996,” Roy said. From their workshop on the corner of Main Street and Winn Avenue, their custom creations are sold around the world.

“Daggonit!” exclaimed Roy Bowen. The massive automated drill he was using to cut a template for his latest custom-made guitar had just veered off course. “That didn’t work.” He would have to rip it up and start again. For Roy, in his work, precision matters.

Roy lives and breathes guitars. It’s a passion born out of his younger days when a love of rock music led to an obsession with electric guitars. “It was just a fascination for me,” he said. That passion later found a purpose when he began modifying and refurbishing guitars in the pursuit of making the perfect one.

A nearby guitar shop offered him a job repairing guitars, which he described as a dream come true. “I didn’t even ask how much they paid; I didn’t even care,” Roy said with a laugh. “They could’ve said I would have to pay them — it wouldn’t matter.”

Decades later, his pursuit continues alongside his business partner and best friend, Scott Leedy. The two met in 1995 and quickly discovered a creative synergy. “He was looking for some help refinishing a guitar and found my number in a classified ad in the paper,” Roy said. “He called me up and I told him to come on over.”

Scott said they became friends through guitar repair. “I had no idea I was going to meet my new best friend, my brother,” he said.

For a while, the pair worked their day jobs, then worked on guitars in Roy’s basement. Demand for their services reached a critical mass such that, according to Scott’s calculations, “If we eat ramen and peanut butter for six months, we can make this work.”

They quit their jobs and, in 1996, RS Guitarworks was born.

From their modest shop on the corner, Roy and Scott build tailor-made guitars and have even designed their own signature guitar that they sell around the world. They take in neglected and broken guitars and, with the help of their small team of fellow luthiers, bring them back to life. They’ve even had the chance to build and repair guitars for big-name rockstars such as Joe Perry of Aerosmith and Joe Walsh of the Eagles.

And, if you ask them, they have gotten pretty close to making the perfect guitar. “When it’s finally finished and you plug it in for the first time, and hit that first note and it comes alive . . .,” Scott said. “That’s such a great reward for all your hard work and effort.”