In 2010, a photographer named Reuben Cox moved to Los Angeles to start Old Style Guitar Shop. In the years since, the instruments that he continues to repair and sell have come to define the sound of the LA indie folk scene among artists like Blake Mills, Andrew Bird, Madison Cunningham, Ethan Gruska and Phoebe Bridgers.

Reuben’s guitars are Frankenstein-esque creations, cobbled together from spare parts and neglected guitar bodies found in flea markets and estate sales. The sounds that these make, though, are as eccentric as their source: the strings are laid on top of Reuben’s signature, a rubber bridge.

This sound, and the mythos of the rubber bridge guitar, has turned Reuben into a local celebrity and put Old Style at the center of Los Angeles’s indie music scene. In this episode of Switched on Pop, host Charlie Harding explores that sound and the man behind it all.

Songs Discussed (playlist)

Taylor Swift - champagne problems
Olivia Rodrigo - hope ur ok
boygenius - Emily I’m Sorry
Jenny Owen Youngs - Vampire Weeknight
Andrew Bird - The New Saint Jude
Marcus Mumford - Only Child
Perfume Genius - Slip Away
Andrew Bird - Underlands
Madison Cunningham - Anywhere
Madison Cunningham - Life According to Raechel
Phoebe Bridgers - Garden Song

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“Single and Strong, Married and Thriving” by Joakim Lundqvist