Ponce Guitars Archive
Mike Ponce Bio
Early Days 1992-1999
Mike Ponce was born in Southern California in 1974. His first guitar was a Fender Custom Shop 1952 reissue Telecaster given to him at age 15 from his Uncle John Page who was a founding member of the Fender Custom shop. Having followed his uncles career at Fender, Mike quickly found his passion as a Guitar builder. More specifically as a Fender Custom Shop Master Builder. At the exact age of 18 Page gave Mike an opportunity to work at the Custom Shop. His first job there was building hand made pickups for Custom Shop aftermarket sales. Working with some of the worlds greatest builders as, Jay Black, John Suhr, John English, Fred Stewart, Alan Hamel, Steve Stern, Gene Baker, Yasuhiko Iwanada, and Mark Kendrick, Mike quickly mastered each department until he was given the title Master Builder at age 24.
Rickenbacker Int. 2000-2002
After the Fender Custom Shop days, Mike moved on to Rickenbacker International working under John Hall. Mike was given the task to finish building the 700 series Acoustics. Having experience with the ply top D'Aquisto's at Fender Mike was ready for the challenge. After training a couple of employees to build the acoustics Mike took the job as Production Manager for Rickenbacker.
Suhr 2002-2017
Having left Rickenbackerin 2002 Mike took a job at Suhr as a builder. Mike was one of six guys at that time shipping under 10 custom guitars a week. Mike was quickly moved onto the role as Production Manager. Having worked with many great artists as Guthrie Govan, Scott Henderson, Michael Landau, Steve Stevens, Andy Wood, and many more Mike truly felt he had honed his skills in the "Super Strat" field.
Ponce Guitars LLC. 2018
After working in the field for 26 years. Mike is ready to start his own legacy. Ponce Guitars LLC was established August 2018. Starting with the model Mike knows best. he created Cybil which has the familiar feel and tone we all grew to love but plays and stays in tune like no other. From the vintage locking 15:1 ratio gears, the hand shaped "C" neck, medium stainless steel frets, 10"-14" compound radius, Indian rosewood fingerboard, the precisely selected 2-piece Alder body, hand selected flat sawn maple necks, custom made 50's style single coils, Single Slug Vintage "Ponce" humbuckers, mega 5-way switch, CTS pots, Pure Tone jack, and finally the super thin Nitro Lacquer lightly aged antiqued finish.
In Closing
Mike goal is to build the best "S" style he can. Cybil is truly that.
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