Meet Austin Zentz

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Austin Zentz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Austin, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I found my purpose through prayer and meditation. In 2021 I was diagnosed with Lymphoma, my doctors couldn’t believe I was still alive because the cancer had progressed so much. I spent 6 months of my life in the hospital and many months after slowly recovering. I had many days of prayer and meditation, God spoke to me in those hours and helped me put my life in perspective.
I couldn’t leave my children without a father and I knew in this moment that if I survived and beat the disease that I need to put aside things that didn’t provide value in my life and in others.
Career goals and worries about many other “important things” went out the window.
My wife and kids, music and other creative pursuits had always been where I found joy, and I wanted my life to focus on those things.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Lowborn Guitars started officially in 2022, while still finishing treatment. After my final chemotherapy session finished I was incredibly weak but in the few good hours each week, I slowly finished my first full build.
Prior to this I had been doing guitar repair work for a few local music shops and a small number of clients I had developed over the years, but I never dove into new builds for the sake of time and lack of self confidence.

I often take in damaged instruments, or just ones in need of a refresh and get them in playing shape to donate to a local guitar shop that provides free lessons to young people. I love being able to occasionally provide a free instrument for someone who doesn’t have the means to buy one. I also provide very cheap repairs for the students as well. Music is medicine and I believe can truly heal the mind and body.

My new builds are where I get my creativity out. I rarely do custom builds, as they are not very enjoyable for me. But I make my guitars slowly and make exactly what I want to make. I released 12 instruments last year and hoping to do somewhere around 24 this year but I don’t pressure myself to produce more than what feels right.

I am a 1 person operation and also make skateboard decks under the name Doomsday Skates, which is very much in its infancy. I still maintain a day job around 30 hours a week that allows me to have a flexible schedule. It may seem like a lot going on, but I schedule my time well and take time away from guitar making to keep everything in healthy balance, I’m also a night owl so after the kids bedtime is where I find a couple hours each night to find my daily peace in the shop.

My goal is to grow Lowborn Guitars slowly over the next two years to fully step away from a day job and be able to provide a well paying job for another person. My goal has never been to be a big company, I want to retain my independence and always let creativity drive my business decisions.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Self Confidence. Then you buy the supplies and tools to make the first guitar, it’s not cheap, you could easily go out and buy a well made budget guitar for the cost. You look at that expense, and you immediately think “this could be a very expensive series of screw ups” the willingness and self confidence of saying “I can do this and what I don’t know I’ll learn along the way” is imperative. Finding the willingness to fail is a huge step in the right direction.

The desire to learn. I had previously taken a 7 day course and the American School of Lutherie in Portland Oregon on basic repair and fretwork. That’s how I got started in repairs and set up work for local stores. Charles fox, the instructor was incredible and his life outlook and knowledge on the craft really left me with a desire to create and continue to learn. I had very little wood working experience, I had a high school wood shop class over 10 years prior which I remembered almost nothing from. I spent many hours on YouTube, read multiple books, and countless conversations with other guitar makers to learn the skills needed. I started with no real knowledge and took the time to learn. I still learn new things constantly. You need an insatiable desire to learn

You have to be a player. This goes a little bit without saying but you have to understand what makes and instrument feel and sound right. This only comes from years of playing music.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The number one obstacle for me is simply time and financial. I try to price my instruments so that regular people can still buy them. They are not cheap but if you can afford an American made guitar from the major manufacturers, you can afford mine. Many small batch builders like myself have prices that are out of the realm of most gigging musicians, and this is understandable, we can’t get supplies at massive scale like the big guys, we are trying to feed families on decent wages. We don’t have a large number of minimum wage employees to keep costs down, we don’t have large marketing budgets. Not to mention machine maintenance and consumables (saw blades, router bits, sandpaper) Most small batch builders like myself are the accountant, builder, marketing director, maintenance, janitor and everything else all in one.

There aren’t enough hours in the day to produce enough to get to the next stage quickly. The next stage being stepping away from a day job and hiring help specifically a second builder and an admin person. It takes time to grow, and walking away from a good job is definitely difficult, so I must build the brand and demand so that when it’s time I can step away and I can sell the right number of guitars to support my family.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Lowbornguitars.com
• Instagram: @lowbornguitars
• Facebook: Lowborn Guitars

Image Credits

@altarmediaco
@jedpearson_photography