Meet Ryan Gleason | Luthier/Guitar Tech & Musician

When I was just starting out as a full-time professional player back in New York City in 2010 I would take my guitars and basses to a number of great luthiers and guitar techs when I needed a setup or repair done. As time went on I became more and more interested in understanding the inner workings of my own gear and why things were so much more enjoyable to play and sounded so much better after a proper setup or repair from one of these skilled techs.

Due to my growing curiosities when I would get an instrument back from one of these shops I would go through the guitar and measure out various aspects of the guitar to see what adjustments had been made. After a while I started to identify what the key elements were that went into a really well dialed in setup or successful repair and made an instrument play its best. Naturally this led me to start experimenting on my own guitars and basses taking into account what I had observed. Incidentally this led me to buying more and more specialized tools and becoming more acquainted with different techniques within the world of luthierie. Eventually after getting comfortable working on my own instruments I started getting asked about doing setups and small repairs for friends and other musicians in New York.

Upon relocating to LA in late 2018 I decided to take things more seriously with my work and to try to build up my business on the side while working some other day jobs. It’s been a long time coming, but looking back it’s obvious that it was just a natural progression to eventually start my own shop, having realized that I had a knack for this work and that I genuinely enjoy doing it and have a passion for it. After spending a number of years in the music technology industry working Quality Assurance, Development, and Artist Relations I decided I would fully commit and make my work as a “Looth” my full-time job while still working as a professional player when opportunities arise and time allows.

Gleason Guitars is currently my one-man operation running a small home shop out of a second bedroom in my apartment in NoHo. Sometimes being a home shop presents its own set of challenges as I am typically unable to utilize a number of tools that I might otherwise be able to use outside of an apartment based set up out of respect for my neighbors and partner, as well as to avoid making too much noise and kicking up too much dust in an apartment. Because of this I’ve had to adapt and modify a lot of common techniques into apartment friendly or hand tool friendly techniques. Sometimes however those forced “speedbumps” allow me to be more meticulous in the work that I produce as I am forced to move a little slower and more precisely at times. Moving a bit slower is not always a bad thing though as some tasks that typically could be achieved more quickly with power tools (but with more potential for mistakes) can be done with more precision, leading to better overall outcomes and better playing instruments. However, even though I have to move a bit slower with some more involved tasks I do my best to maintain fast and efficient turnaround times, and a lot of the time I can accommodate next day turn around on setup work when requested.

I pride myself on the care I take with every instrument that comes through regardless of value. A guitar that comes in that’s worth less than $100 is given the same care as a $10,000 Custom Shop or vintage instrument. For me they are all extremely valuable to the owner regardless of brand or cost. Every instrument has the potential to create a joyful experience for the player when setup or repaired well. Because of this I try my best treat them all with the care of a rare or one of a kind instrument. The number one thing I love most about doing this work is the look on people’s faces when they get their guitar back after I’ve had it, and they strum that first chord, or play that first note and can’t believe it’s the same instrument that they were struggling to play when it was dropped off at my shop a few days earlier.

Even though at times it feels a little bit like “Downtown Disney” I love downtown Burbank, as well as Toluca Lake and the NoHo Arts District area. These are essentially my neighborhood spots and where I spend most of my time when I’m not in the shop. I’ve got a great group of friends in the area who are not musicians who for sure help get my head out of never ending “Guitar Land” a few times a week.

I actually have a standing friends hang in Burbank every week where we typically grab dinner and then hit up one of the three AMC movie theaters that are (somewhat comically) within less than a mile radius of one another and catch a movie. It has been one of the most important grounding things in my social life post-pandemic having something to look forward to every week with a bunch of friends to get my head out of work for the evening. There’s a bunch of solid bars and restaurants in the downtown Burbank area, though we typically hit up Finney’s Crafthouse and have become somewhat regulars there. I also like to get out and hang with some of my neighborhood friends at Forman’s Whiskey Tavern and Spin The Bottle Wine Studio in Toluca Lake as those are within walking distance. As we all know living in LA, once in a while it’s nice to not have to deal with a car or even an Uber on a night out. So it’s nice to have a few places within walking distance.

Otherwise I like to get out of the shop and go on hikes when I can, ride my bike around the Valley, and just explore new places around the city. There’s no limit to new places to discover here in LA being such a massive and sprawling city. It’s incredible how much is here. I doubt you could cover it all in one lifetime. It is certainly a much different city experience than what my years living in New York was like.

This is a difficult one to pair down to only a few people because there are so many specific people that I could call out here who have helped me get to where I am at today, but I have to give a major shoutout to three main people/groups: 1. my parents, Jim and Sue Gleason, 2. my partner, Jillian Cantwell, and 3. a general shout out to all my friends and clients who have helped make my current situation a reality.

If it weren’t for these people I wouldn’t have 1. the first set of specialized tools that I needed to start doing this work on a serious level when I first became interested in pursuing guitar setup and repair, 2. the encouragement that things would turn out OK if I took the leap from a stable full time day job into the uncertainty of running a shop full-time, or 3. the steady stream of wonderful people and their instruments that come through the shop who trust in my abilities and the level of care I take with their precious instruments while they are in my my possession.