We build instruments
to outlast us.

For more than two decades, luthier and designer Aryeh East has been building, repairing, restoring, and studying guitars.

His career began with a simple obsession: understanding why some instruments feel alive in your hands while others never quite come together. That question led to years spent at the bench, including time as head luthier at Chicago Music Exchange, where he worked daily on rare, historic, and exceptional instruments. He also taught at the Chicago School of Guitar Making and built guitars under contract for shops across the country, often producing instruments that ultimately carried someone else's name.

Over time, repair and restoration became something larger. Working on thousands of guitars revealed the same compromises, limitations, and inherited assumptions appearing again and again. Aryeh began developing his own solutions, approaching the electric guitar as a mechanical system and reconsidering every part of it from first principles.

Artifact is the result of that work.

Each instrument reflects years of observation, experimentation, and refinement. The Bolt-Through™ neck joint, carefully selected materials, proprietary pickups, and original three-piece bridge were developed to improve stability, resonance, adjustability, and the connection between the player and the instrument.

Every detail has a purpose. Every instrument is built by hand in the United States, one at a time.