anderson guitar works
EST. 1984 | USA
Electric Guitars
“Innovation, clever designs, and consistency across all the guitars we build.”
Tom Anderson | founder
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Today, that pursuit continues with Tom Anderson as founder and creative force, and Markus Spohn as successor, co-owner, and the next steward of the company. The relationship between Tom and Markus is not simply a transfer of ownership. It is a continuation of values: innovation, clever design, consistency, honesty with customers, and the belief that a custom guitar should arrive exactly as hoped, not as a compromise.
At Tom Anderson Guitarworks, heritage is not a script to repeat. It is a responsibility to understand. With Tom’s decades of guitar-making experience and Markus’s background in technology, product thinking, and deep customer advocacy, the company remains committed to making instruments that honour what Anderson has always been while leaving room for what it can become next.
demo
Guardian Angel Demo | Guitarist Magazine Review
Watch Guitarist Magazine demo the Tom Anderson Guardian Angel, reviewed in Guitarist 443. This video showcases the Guardian Angel’s modern Anderson design, playability, tone, and performance features for players exploring high-end boutique electric guitars.
anderson angel
demo
Jason Kui performs “Morning Breeze” on an Anderson Angel in this Guitar Tales video from Anderson Guitarworks. Recorded in the Anderson Guitarworks Studio, the video features an Angel with a Natural Arctic Blue Burst quilt maple top, mahogany body, chocolate maple neck, H1/H2 pickups, and vintage tremolo.
boutique guitar showcase en tour | 2026
“We are here to protect what has always mattered: innovation, consistency, honesty…”
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That instinct found a home when Tom met Dave Schecter and joined Schecter in its early years. There, he was part of a pivotal moment in electric guitar history, when replacement parts, custom builds, and the idea of a high-performance electric guitar began to take shape. Dave Schecter’s habit of looking at anything and immediately seeing what could be improved left a lasting mark on Tom’s way of thinking.
When Schecter changed direction, Tom took advice he had not expected to follow: if he wanted to do the work his way, he would have to do it himself. In 1984, with a young family and no romantic notion of becoming a businessman, he started what would become Tom Anderson Guitarworks. The company grew from a garage, sustained at first by pickups and parts, into one of the defining names in modern boutique electric guitars.
Tom’s legacy is not only precision or innovation, though both are central to the work. It is also ethics, loyalty, and the quiet culture of a shop where people stay, vendors matter, and every guitar is measured against the question that has guided him for decades: can this be better for the player?
Tom anderson | Founder
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His connection to Anderson began first as a player. Looking for a guitar that could combine the features and feel he wanted, Markus discovered Tom Anderson Guitarworks in 2006 and quickly became devoted to the instruments. He sold his other guitars, kept ordering Andersons, and eventually visited the shop while he had a guitar in production. That visit revealed an unexpected point of connection: the company’s order and inventory system. Markus’s professional world and personal passion suddenly overlapped.
What began as a customer relationship grew into years of technical help, trust, and friendship. When Tom began thinking seriously about the future of the company, Markus became the person he believed could carry it forward. The move required Markus and his family to leave behind an established Silicon Valley life, relocate to Newbury Park, and step into a role that demanded both business leadership and hands-on guitar-making knowledge.
Since joining the company in 2021, Markus has approached the work from the outcome backward: learning setup, inspection, finish work, staining, clear coating, design, and the systems needed for the company to continue with strength. His role is not to turn Anderson into something else, but to preserve what matters while continuing the company’s DNA of innovation, consistency, and customer-focused design.
Markus Spohn | co-owner
life with strings attached
In this episode of Life With Strings Attached, Jamie Gale sits down with Tom Anderson and Markus Spohn of Tom Anderson Guitarworks for a conversation about continuity, trust, and the future of one of the most respected names in boutique electric guitars. Tom reflects on the values that shaped the company, while Markus shares how he moved from Anderson customer and technology professional to co-owner and successor. Together, they discuss the careful balance of protecting the Anderson identity while allowing the company to keep evolving through innovation, precision, and a deep commitment to the player.
Biography | Tom anderson
In this biography episode of Life With Strings Attached, Jamie Gale sits down with Tom Anderson, founder of Tom Anderson Guitarworks, inside the Anderson shop where every guitar is played before it leaves. Tom traces his path from Southern California surf music, the British Invasion, Hendrix, and early Schecter to launching his own company in 1984. Along the way, he reflects on Dave Schecter’s influence, the values that shaped Anderson Guitarworks, the importance of employees and trusted vendors, and the succession plan with Markus Spohn. It is a story about craft, ethics, curiosity, community, and the pursuit of building the guitars Tom wished he had when he was twenty.
Biography | Markus spohn
In this biography episode of Life With Strings Attached, Jamie Gale sits down with Markus Spohn, co-owner and successor at Tom Anderson Guitarworks. Markus traces his path from Germany to Silicon Valley, from player and devoted Anderson customer to the person Tom Anderson trusted to help carry the company forward. The conversation follows the unlikely bridge between Markus’s technology background and his passion for guitars, his move to Newbury Park in 2021, and the hands-on learning that has taken him from final setup and inspection into finishing, design, and the deeper systems of the shop. It is a story about trust, continuity, reinvention, and protecting the Anderson identity while leaving room for its next chapter.
