Xotic Guitar builder "Hiro Miura" interview (2/5)

- From overcoming the closure of the shop to establishing an original brand

PCI: Why did you close the shop?
Hiro: At the time, Mr. Sakashita (ex-Fernandes, now an independent guitar builder. Robben Ford uses his guitars.) was in the US working for Fernandes US. He used to come visit my store. This was when my Japanese staff had decided to go back to Japan due to visa issues. Sakashita was thinking about renting his own shop, but the rent was too expensive. We decided to share a warehouse, so I closed my shop and we rented a warehouse together elsewhere.

PCI: Did you completely close Guitar Gang?
Hiro: The shop in Studio City was closed, but I kept the store name and continued to export vintage guitars from the new warehouse. We ended up sharing the warehouse with one other guy, Mr. Tang. He was a fairly well-known Chinese-American bass builder. Both guys were always building guitars and basses, and I was able to learn a lot about the craft from them.

PCI: Your dream of become a guitar builder was re-awakened?
Hiro: Yes. Also, the type of work I was doing was changing. Going back to the vintage guitars, even before I opened the shop, I knew that collecting vintage would eventually become tougher. I was already thinking about different ways to do business. Incidentally, a Canadian acoustic guitar maker, Larrivee, and a hand-coiled pickup maker, Van Zandt, were asking me to sell their products in Japan.

The famous Van Zandt Pickup was first introduced to the Japanese market by Hiro. This is a rare photo with the late owner Van Zandt himself in 1993

This is when I started introducing products other thanvintage. Eventually I got more business. Around the time I moved to the warehouse, I was surprised when one of the Japanese major distributors who purchased Larrivee from me bypassed me and started to trade directly with the manufacturer. This was when I realized, no matter how much effort I put into exploring the market, how easy it was to lose business, so long as I was dealing with brands that were not mine. I started thinking about creating my own brand. When I mentioned this to Sakashita, he said, “Why not? I will help you.” I threw some of my ideas to him, and he gave me his support.

Hiro in his shop demonstrating the steps in guitar-making

PCI: You had everything ready, since Mr. Sakashita and Mr. Tang were already building guitars right in front of your eyes.
Hiro: Yes, exactly. I was also joined by a few people from Japan, and we slowly started building guitars.

PCI: Both Mr. Sakashita and Mr. Tang had their own brands that were sold separately?
Hiro: Yes. Sakashita eventually became independent, and Tang, who used to work at a guitar maker called Tobias, also became independent when Tobias was bought by Gibson and moved to Nashville. He specialized in basses with very original designs. They were very popular at the time. I believe there are many professional musicians in Japan who own his bass.

Hiro's first shop in 1996

PCI: Xotic also started with basses?
Hiro: Yes. I started making them in 1996.

PCI: I remember the Xotic Bass being introduced at the NAMM shows. You were also selling them through Bass Exchange, where professional musicians frequented. Xotic Basses were mostly purchased by professional musicians and received very high acclaim. There are still many inquiries being made about them in the US today.

PCI: I understand you have many friends amongst other guitar builders and makers?
Hiro: When I was introducing Van Zandt and Larrivee to Japan, I met Rick Turner, who was the owner of Alembic. He had left the company to make Turner Guitar. I met him at Westwood Music when I was visiting the store looking for used instruments. He was working in the back of the store as a repairman. I asked him, “Are you Mr. Turner?” and we started talking. He told me he had many unfinished materials, including bodies. Business wasn’t so good for him, so he closed the company and started working at the store to make ends meet. I offered to purchase those unfinished guitars if he could finish them for me. So little by little, he started making guitars for me. I took them to Japan, and we started receiving new orders. Those guitars were wonderful.