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Life With Strings Attached

Jamie Gale

Everything in life is better understood if you can learn to see the strings attached.

Life With Strings Attached is a long-form conversation series hosted by Jamie Gale that explores the people, ideas, and disciplines shaping the evolving world of the guitar.

Drawing on decades of experience across touring, retail, distribution, manufacturing, education, consulting, and global cultural exchange, Jamie brings together builders, designers, artists, scientists, historians, entrepreneurs, collectors, and innovators to uncover the patterns that connect seemingly unrelated worlds.

From guitar design and architecture to philosophy, physics, craftsmanship, psychology, and culture, each conversation explores the universal principles that influence how we create, think, and connect.

Hosted by the curator of the Boutique Guitar Showcase, Life With Strings Attached contributes to the ongoing conversation of the guitar by inviting thoughtful dialogue, celebrating diverse perspectives, and discovering new possibilities for the future of the instrument.

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28 episodes
weekly
Avg 1 hr 24 min
English

Episodes 28

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#107
May 10 · 1 hr 1 min
The Obsession Behind 2-Rock | Eli Lester
My guest today is Eli Lester, owner and CEO of Two-Rock Amplifiers and Divided by Thirteen. Eli is someone deeply obsessed with sound, craftsmanship, history, and the idea that the smallest details still matter. From vintage gear and vacuum tubes to photography, hot rods, and building amplifiers component by component, his world is driven by curiosity and an unwillingness to settle for “good enough.” What stood out to me most is that Eli still approaches this work like a fan. Even after years of building some of the most respected amplifiers in the world, he’s still chasing tone, still learning, and still trying to build something that inspires people to play. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and I think you will too. Watch the video version on YouTube: 🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry: 🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase 🔗 Jamie Gale Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.
#106
May 1 · 1 hr 18 min
Biography | The Story of James Trussart
In this episode, I'm sitting down with legendary guitar maker James Trussart in his workshop located in Echo Park, California. From growing up on a French horse farm near the border of Luxembourg to discovering American music through nearby airbases, to hitchhiking with aspirations of becoming a vagabond. James' story moves from farm life and American military influence to building his first instruments, later finding Cajun music in Louisiana, then eventually moving his workshop from Paris to Los Angeles. Along the way, his guitars have found their way into the hands of a diverse range of artists from Dylan to Metallica. What unfolds here is a conversation about curiosity, about following instinct without a roadmap, and about a life shaped as much by chance encounters as by intention. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with James Trussart, and I hope that you will as much as I did. To learn more about James Trussart, click here https://www.boutiqueguitarshowcase.com/trussart-guitars?rq=trussart Watch the video version on YouTube: 🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry: 🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase 🔗 Jamie Gale Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.
#105
April 24 · 1 hr 34 min
The New Music Industry | Linnea Sundberg
In this episode, I’m joined by Linnea Sundberg who's joining us from Brooklyn, where she’s working at the intersection of music, technology, and the evolving artist economy. From her early days in Sweden to Oxford, to investment banking at Goldman Sachs, and into the heart of Spotify’s rise, Linnea has been part of some of the most defining shifts in modern music. Today, she’s with UnitedMasters, helping shape a more independent and equitable future for artists. One where ownership, access, and agency are central to the conversation. We explore what it means to build a career across disciplines, how data and emotion collide in music, and why the future of this industry may depend on how well we balance both. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. There’s a clarity and curiosity in Linnea’s thinking that makes you look at the entire music ecosystem just a little differently. Watch the video version on YouTube: 🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry: 🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase 🔗 Jamie Gale Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.
#104
April 17 · 1 hr 37 min
The Guitar as Art, Not Just a Tool | Michihiro Matsuda
Today, Michihiro Matsuda returns to the podcast. It feels less like a continuation and more like stepping back into an ongoing conversation that never really ended. When you walk into Michi’s workshop, you don’t just see guitars, you see ideas in motion. Instruments at different stages, each one exploring something distinct, each one asking a different question. As he put it, even having a few finished guitars in one place feels unusual. This is a conversation about identity of instruments, of makers, and of the guitar itself. About what it means to move beyond expectation. About why imperfection matters. And ultimately, about the simple but profound idea that a guitar isn’t just a tool for making sound, it’s something we live with, something that exists in our space, shaping our experience even when it’s not being played. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Michihiro Matsuda, and I hope you do as much as I did. Watch the video version on YouTube: 🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry: 🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase 🔗 Jamie Gale Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.
#103
April 10 · 2 hr 3 min
Should Musicians Be Worried About AI? | Sourabh Pateriya
Welcome to Life With Strings Attached, I’m your host, Jamie Gale. In this episode, we’re stepping into a space that is, depending on who you ask, either full of possibility… or full of uncertainty. My guest today is Sourabh Pateriya, founder and CEO of Soundverse AI, a platform working at the intersection of music, technology, and what it means to create in a world where the tools are changing faster than ever before. Sourabh’s path is an interesting one. From engineering to design, from Spotify (where he co-invented Basic Pitch) to working on conversational AI with Samsung’s Bixby, and now building a company focused on ethical, artist-first AI music creation… his work sits right at the edge of where creativity and technology meet. But what makes this conversation worth having isn’t just the technology. It’s the perspective behind it. Because before all of this, Sourabh was a musician, someone who understands what it means to make something from nothing. And now he’s asking a much bigger question: What happens when the tools of creation become accessible to everyone? And more importantly… what happens to the role of the artist? This is a conversation about access, about authorship, about ethics… and about whether we’re building a future that expands creativity, or reshapes it entirely. Watch the video version on YouTube: 🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry: 🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase 🔗 Jamie Gale Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.
#102
April 3 · 1 hr 20 min
The Man Who Redesigned the Guitar | Steve Klein
Today’s conversation takes place in the workshop of Steve Klein. Someone who, for more than half a century, hasn’t just built guitars, but has continuously rethought what the instrument could be. This isn’t a conversation about legacy. It’s about what’s still unfolding. Steve is one of those rare builders who never settled into a fixed idea. While many define their work and then repeat it, he’s continued to question, redesign, and push forward. Still chasing new forms, new functions, and new ways the guitar can meet the player. What struck me most being here is that the thinking hasn’t slowed. If anything, it’s sharpened. There are still ideas on the bench. Still questions being asked. Still things to say. And that’s where we begin, not with where it started, but with where it is right now. I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation, and I think you will too. Watch the video version on YouTube: 🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry: 🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase 🔗 Jamie Gale Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.
#101
March 27 · 1 hr 51 min
The Lesson Every Maker Needs to Hear | Ervin Somogyi
Welcome to Life With Strings Attached, I’m your host Jamie Gale. There are certain figures in guitar making whose influence runs so deep, it begins to shape not just instruments, but the way we think about them. Ervin Somogyi is one of those voices. His influence can be felt across generations of makers. Names like Jason Kostal, Michihiro Matsuda, and Raymond Kraut. Each carrying forward a piece of that thinking in their own way. In this conversation, we move far beyond the guitar as an object, and into the philosophy of sound, perception, and the quiet discipline of listening. We explore what it means to truly understand tone, why hand skills have been undervalued in modern culture, and how small, intentional changes can unlock profound differences in an instrument’s voice. Ervin reflects on a lifetime of questioning, refining, and perhaps most importantly, remaining curious. This is not a conversation about certainty. It’s about exploration, humility, and the long arc of learning how to hear. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, and I think you will too. Watch the video version on YouTube: 🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry: 🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase 🔗 Jamie Gale Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.
#100
March 23 · 1 hr 9 min
The Role of the Artisan in the Age of AI | Grit Laskin | LWSA Ep 100
Welcome to the 100th episode of Life With Strings Attached. There are certain conversations that stay with you. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, they’re the ones you get to return to. For this milestone episode, it felt right to come back to where it all began by welcoming back our very first guest, William “Grit” Laskin. Grit is one of the most respected voices in modern guitar making. But more than that, he’s a thinker whose work continues to shape how we understand the guitar, not only as an instrument, but as a vessel for meaning. Recorded in Grit’s Toronto workshop, surrounded by the raw materials that eventually become instruments capable of moving people, this conversation feels both grounded and expansive. It reflects on where we’ve come, what has changed, and what still remains unresolved. Watch the video version on YouTube: 🔗 YouTube Channel – Life With Strings Attached Learn more about Life With Strings Attached, Boutique Guitar Showcase, and Jamie Gale's work in the guitar industry: 🔗 Boutique Guitar Showcase 🔗 Jamie Gale Thank you for listening and supporting the ongoing conversation between music, makers, history and the future.

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