ARTFUL SELECTION

GENE BAKER’S CAREER is the stuff of legend. After apprenticing under fabled luthier Roger Giffin, head of Gibson’s West Coast Custom Shop, for two years, he moved to the Fender Custom Shop in Corona in 1993, during its “Golden Age,” where he quickly rose to the position of senior master builder. In 2003, he launched b3 Guitars, bringing his own fully custom models to players. Through it all, Baker has continually garnered respect for blending original and forward-looking esthetics with a clear respect for classic elements in models that include his custom-grade SL, Phoenix, UltraModern and Ringmaster.

These models returned to the market with the opening of Baker’s new workshop in Tehachapi, California, in January 2020,