Ryan Guitars

Ryan Guitars started as a side project in 1987. Kevin Ryan was a Southern California engineer at Northrop's Aeroscience Lab — by day he built jet fighter scale models for transonic wind tunnel testing; by evening he was prototyping his first acoustic guitar at home. The Aeroscience Lab was an unlikely setting for an acoustic-guitar reimagining, but the materials-science and precision-engineering background turned out to give Kevin a singular perspective on what the instrument could be.

Ryan Guitars started as a side project in 1987. Kevin Ryan was a Southern California engineer at Northrop's Aeroscience Lab — by day he built jet fighter scale models for transonic wind tunnel testing; by evening he was prototyping his first acoustic guitar at home. The Aeroscience Lab was an unlikely setting for an acoustic-guitar reimagining, but the materials-science and precision-engineering background turned out to give Kevin a singular perspective on what the instrument could be. Each guitar he built suggested another way to push the design forward. Over the next three decades, Kevin shipped a series of innovations that became Ryan signatures and, in several cases, were widely copied by other builders. The Ryan Bevel — an integrated ergonomic armrest now common across the boutique world — is the most famous.