After building my second Minuteman, Mike Gagne contacted me to inquire about building him a bass. At the time I had no plans to do this commercially. I suggested he should come to my place and I'd coach him through building his own. He spent a lot of time sketching ideas and came up with the original Eidas (named after his dog Sadie.)

I've spent a lot of time teaching woodworking and have never had a more inspired student. We also solidified a close friendship. The natural progression was to see if we could get together doing this professionally.

People started showing interest in our basses and before long we were accepting orders.

• Eidas Gallery: The creations.