It took one bad guitar repair job for DePaul senior Zach Winkler to take matters into his own hands.

“I made it a personal goal to never have a luthier do a crappy job on one of my guitars ever again,” said Winkler, a musician and now a Chicago-based luthier, or someone who builds and replaces guitars.

Learning the basics of guitar tech work from YouTube tutorials, Winkler practiced replacing parts on his own guitar. Eventually, he had a bigger ambition: to build guitars from scratch.

In February 2024, Jonathan Shepard, a friend of Winkler and fellow senior at DePaul, helped create Winkler Guitars, a custom luthier business specializing in handcrafted guitars made from wood of unique tree species. While Winkler handles the electronic side of construction — the frets, pickups and tuning knobs, Shepard takes care of the woodworking and client communication.

“Nowhere are you going to find inlays like this,” Shepard said while gazing at a rose design carved into the neck of their latest instrument made from four different types of wood.

Shepard sources wood from Owl Hardwood Lumber Company, a lumberyard in suburban Des Plaines, Illinois, which carries a variety of domestic and imported woods. Shepard likes to use lesser-known varieties like Wenge — an African hardwood with a rich, dark brown hue.

He started woodworking during his freshman year of college. From there, he landed a job at DePaul’s Idea Realization Lab, a studio space open to all students that offers a variety of resources, from 3D printing to sewing. He and Winkler do the majority of their work in the IRL.

Unlike many commercially-produced guitars, Winkler Guitars are handcrafted at every point of the process, making it tedious work.

“I think the design really sets us apart,” Shepard said. “Most of our clients are going to prefer an instrument that looks like this over an instrument that’s going to sound .5% better.”

First, Winkler and Shepard create a 3D model, deciding what kinds of wood and hardware they’ll use. Next, they begin rough milling, a one- to two-day process where they carve down big blocks of wood into smaller pieces to be glued together.

Then, Shepard uses what’s known as a computer numerical control machine to carve out their builds — a process that takes 15 to 20 hours. After this, Winkler takes over, setting up the fretboard and attaching the pick guard and tuners. He then levels the fret board by hand, which takes up to eight hours. They typically leave their guitars with a natural finish.

Before selling their first guitar, Winkler and Shepard built about 10 models that weren’t usable or fully operational.​ To date, they have finished and sold three guitars, one of which was bought by Gavin Warner, Shepard’s roommate.

“The first guitar they made was floating around the house for a long time, so I had gotten a chance to play it,” Warner said. “It’s super high quality, and when I got to talking about the price with Zach and Jonathan I realized the price was pretty reasonable.”

Winkler Guitars start at $1,000 and go up in price depending on the materials used.

“It feels awesome, I definitely feel more legit,” Warner said. “I think it’s really cool just to have my own … not out of a factory or anything.”

Working closely on each meticulous detail, Winkler and Shepard admit they have run into hiccups and disagreements along the way. Even so, their relationship is “an upward trend,” Winkler said.

“There’s stress involved in making these things, but overall it’s been solid,” Shepard said.

In addition to selling guitars to clients, Winkler Guitars lends one of their builds, the TC-3, to local musicians around the city. After playing, each musician signs the headstock of the instrument. Park Dendy, a guitarist and DePaul alum, played the TC-3 recently in “Surf Cowboy”, a local indie rock band made up partly of DePaul students and alumni. Winkler uses the pictures to promote their product on their Instagram page.

Balancing school, work and other obligations, Winkler and Shepard typically spend three to four months building each guitar.

“Right now we’re really focused on quality, making beautiful pieces,” Winkler said. “We’re also trying to figure out how to make guitars in bulk and really streamline that process.”

Looking ahead, Winkler and Shepard envision crazier designs and other features you can’t find on commercially-produced guitars. They plan on continuing the project postgrad, even if it doesn’t pay the bills.

“Especially knowing it was just a chunk of wood four months ago — it’s a really, really special feeling seeing something that you’ve built on stage,” Shepard said.

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