Any of y'all familiar with Robin guitars?

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It's got over 500 photos of cool guitars.

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Well..... we're waiting.

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Well..... we're waiting.

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They're in the book.

Here is a hollow body they made. The started in the 80s.



There other models have a Jackson/ Charvel vibe and some more Fender S and T style. Like most custom builders at the time they used flamed maple for tops on higher end models. This was after PRS started using it in the late 70s. Gibson started using it on late 50s Les Paul’s, but most of the major brands had quit using. Another builder in the 80s was Pensa guitars started by Rudy Pensa of Rudy’s Music in NYC. Most famously he and his repair guy name John Suhr built many for Mark Knopfler. Suhr went on to start Suhr Guitars and Amps later.

There's a Rockin Robin guitar shop in Houston. Guessing they're somehow connected.

Dave Wintz's obit in Vintage Guitar Magazine

Met Dave in the early 1990s, when I was just a player with a dream one day of being in the instrument repairing and building business. Dave and I remained good friends until his death.

I owned one of the first Robin Revival guitars (their take on a Texas blues S-style) and was very familiar with not only the entire line, but the factory and processes and Dave's mentality on every aspect of guitar building. He gave me priceless tips on creating and using an effective HVLP spray booth for polys and nitros without spending a ton of money. We were NEVER competitors, we were comrades.

"Robin" was in fact a spinoff on Rockin' Robin Guitars in Houston, the retail outlet. They started with MIJ guitars ghost-built for them by Tokai (and they were KILLER). After they established themselves beyond fly by night, they built a state of the art CAD/CNC factory.

Dave had a primo, absolutely enviable, tonewood collection for the Texas builds. He used to come to south Louisiana once a year to source lightweight swamp ash direct from the northern Atchafalaya Basin. He'd always put in a call and invite me to join him. I was always too busy with my day job. I truly regret not taking him up on those scavenger hunts now that he's gone.

Robin's existence berthed their in-house Rio Grande Pickups. Truth be told, Rio made a bigger wave in its market than Robin in its market. Rio's still around. So is Robin but I have no clue to what depth or scope - I lost interest when Dave passed.

Dave was not married and without any heir apparent or any real play for Robin's future when he passed in 2022. Robin had already gone belly up, Dave had a fretted repair shop in the former factory. After his death, the facility sat dormant and in limbo because his landlord had yet to be made whole, at least that's what I was told by a mutual friend who doubled as an insider.

The current owner of Rio Grande and Robin was an amp maker when Dave's "estate" was settled. I heard they obtained all the factory's assets, from machinery to IP and the Rio Grande and Robin trademarks, via a sheriff's auction but that's hearsay on my part.

An insider was ready to put my name in the hat to acquire Rio Grande and the entirety of its assets, but I opted to stick with Carondelet's plan and trajectory. As much as I would have loved to continue Dave's legacy, he was 100 percent supportive of what I was doing with my own pickup company and had he still been alive, he would have told me to not ride his coattails and to make my own. So glad I did.

Thanks for reminding me of Dave and Robin, fond memories, and he's greatly missed by many of us. Rest in power, my friend.

Here's that Robin Revival I owned. Sorry for the lame photos from a later owner, I have no photos from when I owned it. I got it direct from Dave shortly after it was built. Only about two dozen Revivals were made, of which only two units were "shell pink." No clue who had the other one.

Thanks but I'm good, he and I have been friends for decades and I actually fed info to Willie for the Robin book. Two of my Carondelet artists (Steve Blaze of Lillian Axe, Scott Dalhover of Dangerous Toys) are former Robin artists from waaay back in the day.

Willie and I got to briefly hang out this past weekend at Amigo Nashville, he's doing great.