A gift of a left-handed electric guitar model from an older brother wound up launching a lifetime career for right-handed 12-year-old Patrick Cummings, who set about to reverse all of the electronic components in his gift. There were multiple steps in between for Cummings, now sole proprietor of a unique business, iGuitar Workshop, on Nelsonville”™s Main Street.
“There are two things I”™ve always been interested in,” Cummings says, “electronics and music.”
Son of a band leader whose two older sons went on to become professional musicians, Cummings grew up on Long Island with the sound of music ringing throughout the household. Enhancing preparation for his future career were studies at Nassau Community College, courses in audio engineering at New York University and in electrical engineering at the State University of New York at Farmingdale.
He and his wife settled in Putnam Valley where they raised their two sons. After spending a year as a division head for Gibson guitars, Cummings began his business based in Brewster. A high point of the varied endeavors was design of guitars fitted with USB ports, enabling them to be plugged straight into a computer. A six-string Brian Moore brand guitar became capable of producing sounds of a piano, brass and stringed instruments on a computer, Cummings says.
This amazing development led to some serious setbacks. At the 2005 National Association of Music Merchants conference, he and his business partner unveiled their product with ambitions of becoming global. They became global, but not in the way they had anticipated. “We wanted to put a stake in the ground as the inventors of the world”™s first USB guitar,” Cummings recalls. Patents had been filed, but not yet safely secured, leaving the brand vulnerable to competing Asian companies. Within a year he saw foreign companies start to infringe upon the concepts. As a result, with investors unsure if the patents would be forthcoming, the future of the company was uncertain.
The patents were issued, but by then the business had lost support of investors and had to lay off most employees in a move to downsize. The patents were issued to Cummings as inventor and have been assigned to his iGuitar operation.
The tranquility of a day at a Zen monastery provided Cummings with a vision of his new business plan that saw him diversify into the guitar repair and service industry while maintaining his high-end custom USB-equipped guitars. With USB technology, he began modifying all makes of guitars at a monetary rate affordable to the average consumer. Cummings, himself a skilled guitarist, also gives lessons by appointment.
Cummings has entered a new licensing arrangement for his product with electronic pickup manufacturer Fishman Inc. For the uninitiated, he explains that a pickup is a magnet that detects, or picks up, the vibration of an electric guitar string.
A fortunate encounter took place when Cummings met Patterson carpenter and contractor Ray Memmel, also an accomplished inlay artist. Customized guitar and bass necks were added to the iGuitar offerings for its worldwide customers. Materials used include abalone, paua, gold lip, mother-of-pearl, silver, brass, ivory, gold, nickel, reconstituted stone, as well as wood and wood veneers.
A Cummings favorite is the “World Peace” guitar which features mother-of-pearl inlay is 13 languages.
Cummings finds his business enhanced by the fact that many customers own multiple guitars and that he is now serving a worldwide clientele.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be emailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.
