BUILDER PROFILE
Out of the Abyss
The Story of Abyss’ Rise to Kevin L. Pederson Guitars
BY ADAM MOORE
Kevin Pederson has been building Abyss Guitars for 12 years, but with a name change on the
horizon, how will the transformation affect business? An interview with Kevin Pederson about
custom building, and what it takes to get there.
Forest City, Iowa sits quietly at the intersection of Highway 69 and Route 9 in
far northern Iowa, surrounded by waving
fields of corn in the summer and buried
beneath snow and ice in the winter. This
town of 4500 has all of the hallmarks of
a Midwestern locale; a Pizza Hut and
non-descript Ford dealership stand at
the highway entrance, while mention of
Winnebago Industries – the area’s largest
employer – seems to find its way into every
conversation. Forest City has a sleepy, contented air about it, and may be exactly the
last place one would expect to find one of
the industry’s premier custom builders.
This small outpost in North Iowa is where
Kevin Pederson, founder and sole employee of Abyss Guitars, has called home for
the past 38 years. Residing on a quiet residential street directly across from a half-block city park, Kevin has been patiently
honing his building skills in a well-outfit-ted, tidy garage for 12 years, watching
the trends and movements of the guitar
industry from a geographically-instilled
distance. Perhaps because of that separation, perhaps because he learned his craft
through trial and error, or perhaps simply
because of the fresh country air, Kevin
has followed his own path and cultivated
distinct ideas about how a guitar should
be built. In the process, he’s managed
to achieve a rare feat among artists and
entrepreneurs – customers now pay him
thousands of dollars to do what he loves.
What’s even more refreshing is the excitement he has for his work. While some artists grow jaded and cynical when discussing
the intersection of craft and commerce,
Kevin operates with genuine excitement,
gladly welcoming you into his home to
talk about the world of custom building.
Without any prodding, he excitedly flips
open case after case to show you his latest
20 PREMIER GUITAR APRIL 2008
