Today we’d like to introduce you to Rick Sell.
Hi Rick, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Prior to starting PureSalem Guitars, I was a Police Officer with the Miami-Dade Police Department. The majority of my career I worked out of the Liberty City Northside District. Right out of the Police academy I was sent to the Midwest station which was the Westchester / Doral area at the time. I was young and bored to death there. I wanted to be a “real” police officer, so I volunteered to transfer to Liberty City. That place changed my life in so many ways. I met my wife Vanesa there, my best friend Rick Sanchez, and my mentor Larry Bennett. I learned how precious and short life is there. Life is made up of experiences and I got five lifetimes full of experiences from my time there. I can’t imagine a life spent work-wise sitting behind a desk staring at a computer screen or standing on an assembly line making widgets. After 21 years in 2013, I decided to leave the Department. The job had run its course for me. I was unhappy and unfulfilled. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when my dear friend and mentor Larry passed. He was a veteran officer who I worked with and someone who was looked up to by everyone. He was a fantastic officer and friend. Out in the streets you deal a lot of times with the same individuals and they all new Larry and respected him. Here’s a classic example. We chase this stolen van all over Miami one night. Up and down I-95 into the City of Miami, down Us1, etc. The van runs out of gas. As Larry approached the van the driver jumped out, he’s one of our regulars, and apologized and said “Officer Bennett, if I knew it was you, I would have stopped.” So, to fast forward Larry retires. He puts in 30 years of service… I meet him for breakfast one morning and he’s telling me of all the plans he has for the future. We finish our breakfast and as he drives away on his bicycle, he turns the corner out of sight and has a massive heartache, and dies. I quit that week. I left a few years shy of full retirement. Everyone thought I was crazy! In hindsight, I probably was to leave so close to the finish line, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. I wouldn’t have made 4 more years. I was in a bad place. Vanesa understood and supported my decision to leave. Without her I would have been lost. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 15. Music is my lifeblood. I’m left-handed and back when I was growing up finding a left-handed guitar was not easy. Part of the idea of starting PureSalem came out of my frustration of being a Lefty player. So many of the cool and weird guitar shapes back in the day were only made for right-handed players. The last couple years of my police career I had been thinking of the idea of starting a guitar company. When Larry passed, I knew it was the right time.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Once I decided to leave police work and start PureSalem I had no idea how to do it or where to begin. I design our guitars, but I do not make them so the one man in a room building a guitar option was not going to happen. Another important goal was cost. I always had it in mind that I want to keep my guitars affordable. I want the kid who has a summer job cutting grass or working wherever to be able to afford one. Guitar manufacturing has come a long way since the Beatles aired on Ed Sullivan and Japan flooded the market with cheap electric guitars. A quality guitar can be made anywhere today. It all comes down to materials and pride of workmanship. A CNC machine is just a machine. The problem I had was finding a quality manufacturer. I knew no one in the industry. I jumped into the deep end of the pool not knowing how to swim. My first attempt at having guitars made was a disaster. I sourced them from a company I found on the website Alibaba.com. I sent them my ideas and requirements and they promised me they would deliver what I needed. I remember the day they arrived. Vanesa and I were so excited. My excitement turned to horror when I realized we basically had nothing more than firewood. We were not off to a great start! Fortunately, I had a strong eBay buyer/sellers rating. We was able to sell all the guitars on eBay and re-coupe our investment. I listed each guitar and described the issues each one had etc and kept my 100% positive rating. We then met a gentleman from South Korea who agreed to become our middleman and he put us in contact with our first real manufacturer based in Vietnam. We worked with this new manufacturer for a couple years, but the quality control was not where we need it to be. We were spending money on fixing issues that we shouldn’t have had to. Some of those early guitars were great, they were made on a Monday morning after a cup of coffee, but some were made 10 minutes to quitting time on a Friday. We needed a change. By this time, we had made some connections, so I reached out to a certain manufacturer and requested a meeting with them at the annual Winter NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) trade show. The meeting went great, and they took us on. The quality was where it needed to be. Everything was great. We have happy customers. Our social media is growing. We were building our artist roster and some really amazing musicians are adding PureSalem to their arsenal. Then one day a letter in the mail arrives. It’s from a legal firm that represents Gibson Guitars. They were demanding that we cease production of two models, or Cardinal and La Flaca model. Gibson has a long history of threatening companies with legal action. We knew that they had no case. Our models are completely different in shape than what they were claiming. It was more in our opinion a bully tactic hoping we would tap out. We had to retain legal representation, and in the end, it was all for not. The whole story can be read on our websites “Attack Captain” blog section. We still offer the Cardinal and La Flaca models. Covid has affected us all. Supply chain issues have caused manufacturing to cost more and take much longer than usual. Our customers are understanding. They live with it too, so they know it’s just the way things are right now.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about PureSalem Guitars?
PureSalem builds high-quality affordable electric guitars that are road-tested and artist-approved. We’re not reinventing the wheel. It’s not rocket science. It’s wood and wire. The quality of manufacturing that exist today allows us to bring to market an instrument that rivals the legacy brands guitars costing three times as much. Today the playing field is leveled when it comes to guitar production. We also continue to release new models and are always revamping our lineup. We are also working on creating a custom shop partnership with MJT who specializes in relicing and custom paint options. This should be up and running midyear 2023
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Walking away from a lifelong pension to start PureSalem Guitars was a risk I’m glad I took. Life is short. I didn’t want to be an old man on my deathbed with regrets, “I should have did this” or “I should have done that.” You will never know unless you try. What do you want out of life? Do you want to make widgets on an Assembly line? My favorite quote is from an excerpt from a speech by Theodore Roosevelt called “THE MAN IN THE ARENA.”
‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Life is short. If you have an idea or dream, you owe it to yourself to pursue it. You don’t want to have any regrets.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.puresalemguitars.com
- Instagram: @puresalemguitars
- Twitter: @puresalemguitars
