Neal Moser
Neal Moser is an Arizona-based luthier.
He began his career with guitars in 1964. He worked in the guitar industry beginning with Vox in 1965, until he went into the Navy in 1966. After finishing his tour in 1969 he worked at West Coast Organ and Amp as a guitar repairman. While there he worked on the instruments of many musicians including guitars belonging to Jimi Hendrix, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn (Byrds), Vanilla Fudge. Later he worked for Barney Kessels Music World in Hollywood where Neal continued doing guitar repair.
He came to the attention of Bernardo Rico in 1974. At this time he modified his present electronic design to accommodate B.C. Rich guitars. While working as an independent contractor with B.C. Rich Neal designed the B.C. Rich "RICH BICH" which became popular and is still being built. "I feel fortunate to have worked with Bernie Rico, Wayne Charvel, and a host of other talented luthiers and players". Shortly after leaving B.C. Rich he designed what is now known as the Virgin Guitar for Class Axe in New Jersey, who had acquired B.C. Rich by this time.
After leaving B.C. Rich in 1985, Neal met Lee Garver and agreed to join forces with Lee. Lee Garver owns GMW Guitar Works. The GMW stands for Garver, Moser and Wizard. GMW is noted for guitars which are handmade and hand-painted. For over 10 years Neal, Lee and Dan created Moser Guitars which were shown at the NAMM Show in Los Angeles from 1986 to 1998. At that time Neal Moser retired.
He came out of retirement in 2002 to help start the Moser Custom Shop, owned by Earlleen Lloyd. Moser Custom Shop built guitars designed by Neal Moser, Rodney McGlothlin, Dan Fastuca, Ken Patin (formerly of Yavcon Guitars) and a number of other individual designers. Endorsees of MCS include Ol Drake (Evile) and many more.
In 2010 Neal Moser moved to Prescott Valley, Arizona. In 2011 he opened his own shop under the name Neal Moser Guitars. There he continues to build world-class custom guitars and teach custom neck-through guitar building classes. He also does repair and refurbishing of vintage BC Rich guitars.