FROM THE TOP JONATHAN SPANGLER I CIARI GUITARS
INTERVIEWED BY KATIE KAILUS
HOW DO YOU START YOUR DAY? I’m definitely a “coffee first” kind of guy. That’s typically around 6 a.m., after which I knock out core exercises and make a list entitled ‘success today’ with the top items to tackle. Coming from the spine surgery industry, keeping your core strong is one of the best things you can do for overall health. CAN YOU TAKE US BACK TO THE EXACT ‘A-HA’ MOMENT THAT CONVINCED YOU A FOLDING GUITAR HAD TO EXIST? It was 2012, and I was chief patent counsel for a medi - cal company in San Diego. The CEO tapped me to be the ‘Paul Shaffer’ of our company band, as part of his initiative to host our quarterly meetings in the style of ‘Late Night with David Letterman.’ I had to practice a ton to stay on my guitar game as the company grew from 10s to 100s to 1,000s of employees, yet I had a rigorous travel schedule for my actual work there. I experienced the pain points of traveling with my traditional guitar — namely, the uncertainty of not know - ing if you’ll need to check your guitar or find a spot in the overhead bin, the ‘stink eye’ from other passengers if you take up an overhead bin, and the risk of your guitar being late, lost or damaged if checked. So, I researched the travel options. The ‘a-ha’ moment came after realizing that the existing travel options didn’t meet my expectations: I wanted a guitar with a traditional look/feel/play that was a per - sonal item in air travel. Everything on the market missed that mark, so that’s when I took my own advice to would- be entrepreneurs, which is: ‘If you don’t like your options, make what you want — and others may want it, too.’ SO TRUE. CAN YOU SHARE A LITTLE MORE ON YOUR BACKGROUND IN PATENTS? HOW HAS YOUR BACKGROUND SHAPED THE WAY YOU APPROACH R&D AND MANUFACTURING AT CIARI GUITARS? Sure thing. My undergrad is in biomedical engineering, and, after receiving my law degree, I practiced patent law for 20-plus years focused on medical innovations. Dur - ing this time, I witnessed companies that were marketing- driven and others that were engineering-driven. The former were the most successful, as they started with a marketing requirement, born out of conversations with surgeons and what they found lacking in existing solutions, and the engi - neering team was then unleashed to solve the unmet need.
That’s what happened at Ciari Guitars. We started with the marketing requirement that a full- scale guitar with a traditional look/feel/play needed to fit under an airline seat so it qualifies as a personal item in air travel. Based on that, the engineering team came up with the mid-neck hinge, which enables the symmetri - cal folding that makes our Ascender a personal item in air travel. That way, you never need to check your guitar or luggage for that matter. Rather you can skip the lines and enjoy stress-free travel. WHAT’S ONE PRACTICAL STEP ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS CAN TAKE TOMORROW TO START TURNING A PERSONAL PAIN POINT INTO A REAL INNOVATION? Research. Start with the internet, and then proceed to the U.S. Patent Office website to see if someone has come up with a solution that addresses those pain points. If they have, all is not lost. You can still assess to see if any im - provements can be made to overcome any perceived flaws or limitations. Unlike Ricky Bobby, the phrase ‘if you’re not first, you’re last’ doesn’t apply to business. Being a late entrant can be an advantage, as the early movers can validate the market. If you can come in with an improved solution, one that doesn’t run afoul of third-party patents, then you can draft off their prior market-making efforts and sell against those early outdated solutions. CIARI RECENTLY TEAMED UP WITH STEVE STEVENS FOR ITS FIRST SIGNATURE SERIES. HOW DID THIS COLLABORATION COME ABOUT? It’s an absolute honor to team with Steve. I first met him in 2019, and he invited me to Los Angeles to check our guitars out in person after he saw some footage of our Ascender at NAMM. He tried it, liked it, but had some reservations over time based on certain aspects of our original design. We took his feedback to heart and redesigned our Ascender during the pandemic to solve those issues. After the world opened up again post-COVID, we showed him the updated design and he loved it. We then set about defining what his signature series would look like. We worked on that for a couple of years, with multiple prototypes back and forth, and we’re super proud of the outcome of that collaboration. CAN YOU WALK US THROUGH THE DEVELOP- MENT PROCESS WITH STEVE STEVENS AND HIS SIGNATURE SERIES GUITAR. WERE THERE ANY
28 I MUSIC INC. I AUGUST 2025
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