THE STORY

At the age of 14, I watched the Wembley tribute concert for the recently deceased Freddie Mercury.
When Guns N’ Roses took the stage, I was immediately fascinated by bassist Duff and his instrument, which hung all the way down to his knees.

I knew right away: I wanted one of those, too.

So without further ado, I grabbed a wooden board from my father’s workshop,
sawed out a rough body shape freehand, screwed on a roof batten as a neck,
and stretched colored bell wire over it as strings.

And just like that, my first bass was finished.

The frets were made from thin strips of cardboard,
and as a pickup I used an old East German microphone with a DIN plug,
which I mounted directly onto the body with two screws and plugged into an old hi-fi system.

It may be hard to believe, but it actually produced bass-like tones
—or rather: noises.

After many more attempts, my parents eventually bought me a 200,00 DM Marathon bass.
It looked almost like Duff McKagan’s bass. I practiced relentlessly and was soon able to play all my favorite songs…
but my real dream was to be in a band!

At 17, while doing my apprenticeship as a carpenter, I joined my first band. I became the bassist in a dance band — not a bad start at all. As my musical skills developed, so did my expectations of my instrument.

The bassist of a friendly band played a Warwick Corvette bass, which I was allowed to try out. Suddenly, many differences became clear to me. So I sawed off the headstock of my own bass and began shaping a similar one, which I then reattached to the neck using two steel pins. I was also able to get some beautiful ash wood from my training workshop and made a new body from it. Now the instrument was much more pleasing to the eye — and above all: it worked!

During this time, a good friend introduced me to the band Queen, and I was immediately fascinated by guitarist Brian May and his red guitar. When I learned that he had built the guitar himself, I thought: Cool, I can do that too :-)
Back then, however, information about it was very hard to come by.

Still, my new dream was clear: to build my own Red Special. With little knowledge but plenty of confidence, I began gathering various — sometimes unconventional — parts and step by step built my first Red Special.

And that was the true beginning.

From then on, I became more and more involved in guitar building. The contact with many musicians I met during that time, the opportunities in my apprenticeship workshop, and a great deal of personal initiative helped me to better understand the world of luthiery.

Then the age of the internet began, and I quickly gained access to useful and, above all, precise information. I soon found suppliers and dealers and was able to obtain all the necessary plans and materials to build my dream guitar. At the same time, I took classical guitar lessons, which allowed me to significantly improve my dexterity and deepen my understanding of instrument construction.

In recent years, I decided — alongside my regular profession — to dedicate myself exclusively to guitar building. I taught myself many new skills, studied specialist literature, regularly visited music trade fairs, and built numerous valuable contacts along the way.

One highlight to this day was visiting Germany’s largest manufacturer of electric guitars and basses, where I gained comprehensive insight into large-scale production.

Soon, more and more musicians became aware of my instruments, and today I can look back on many successfully completed projects with steadily growing popularity…

Of course, my parents have played a major role in the success of Scheithauer Guitars.

They made everything possible for me from the very beginning and supported even the craziest ideas, bringing them to life together with me.

My mother, Gisela Scheithauer, born in 1949, a secretary by profession, has always taken care of my well-being. I was never allowed to skip lunch — otherwise there would be consequences! Even today, I continue to benefit from the experience of a former executive secretary when it comes to organization and structural matters.

My father, Roland Scheithauer, born in 1939, a businessman by profession, provided me with his workbench dating back to 1937 — including all the tools that were in the workshop. To this very day, Scheithauer instruments are crafted on that very same 1937 workbench.
A truly unique and historic piece of craftsmanship.

Thank you both — thank you for your life experience, your support, and everything you have given me.

Scheithauer-Guitars
built with inspiration music
An der Unstrut 19 - 99996 Unstruttal / Germany
mail: info@scheithauer-guitars.de
web: www.scheithauer-guitars.de
facebook: www.facebook.com/ScheithauerGuitars

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