Julien Roure: Crafting guitars that grace tours around the world

From the French countryside to touring with some of the world's biggest rockstars, Roure and his guitars have been on quite the adventure.

15 September 2022

Julien works a soldering iron intently in his workshop.

Rock stars from all over the world appreciate the sound of his handmade guitars. With his company Wild Custom Guitars, Julien Roure is living his childhood dream.

A passion for the best sound possible

Julien was interested in music from an early age. While some kids wanted to be firemen or astronauts, Julien wanted to build a guitar for his greatest idol James Hetfield of Metallica. But first, as a teenager, he needed to let off a lot of steam in the punk scene in the French countryside. Punk wasn't something you could buy, especially in the middle of rural France: you needed to make it yourself. Most things had to be customised, repurposed or reimagined. To this day he has remained true to the DIY mentality of the punk scene. Meanwhile, the sound of his guitars has become more and more refined. The crafting too has come a long way. His first guitars were designed out of a small old pool house – a far cry from the woodworking mecca that Wild Custom Guitars has become today.

I’ve always followed my path and believed in my projects.
Julien Roure | Founder of Wild Custom Guitars

Never lose sight of the dream

Julien's shop came into being in 2008. That’s when he teamed up with his buddy Renaud Sauzedde. A lot has changed since then, all of which is the result of long hours and hard work. Julien advises everyone never to give up and to believe strongly in their own goals – as big and far-fetched as they may seem. Although too modest to say it himself, he's proof that it pays to work hard on your own vision. Today his instruments have found their way into the hands of some of his greatest idols. Richard Fortus from Guns N Roses owns one of his guitars, as does bassist Mike Dirnt from Green Day. He even designed a signature model for Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

From self-made punk rocker to builder of hand-made instruments. It seems the path to Julien's dreams has always been forged by taking matters into his own two hands, making things himself and letting his vision go from there. All it takes is belief. The rest, as they say, is rock ‘n’ roll.

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