He played this Midlands rock club before it moved. Now he’s making guitars out of the old stage

Chris Brinson knew the old stage at New Brookland Tavern well.

He grew up in Lexington and spent time playing in area bands. And, like pretty much every local musician who came up in the Midlands while the longstanding rock dive was still in residence on State Street in West Columbia, he went to New Brookland a lot and played there more than a few times.

Last year, New Brookland moved across the Congaree River to Columbia , finding a new home in the college-adjacent Five Points neighborhood. But Brinson isn’t done with that old West Columbia stage just yet.

Now a master luthier making electric guitars in Landrum, he was approached by a customer who had acquired wood from New Brookland’s former stage, requesting that he fashion a guitar out of it. Brinson completed that guitar, and he also sent his dad down to West Columbia to get more wood from the stage, enough to build another three or four guitars, Brinson said, adding that he can probably get more if more people are into the idea of shredding on a piece of local music history.

“It’s crazy, man,” Brinson said, reflecting on building guitars out of a stage he once played on. “There’s just so much history. People have literally sweat and cried on that stage. To make a guitar out of a piece of it is just awesome because it’s gonna be around forever.”

Brinson said he and New Brookland Tavern owner Mike Lyons have talked about raffling off one of the guitars at the new club some time, which should help Brinson bring some attention to his relatively new business.

Brinson has been building guitars for about 17 years after he began apprenticing to learn the craft at age 17. It was near the start of his time building guitars that he met Gilbert’s Steve Reeves, a fellow luthier — someone who makes stringed instruments such as as guitars — and the person he would team with to create what appears to be South Carolina’s only boutique guitar factory in 2022.

The two build under eponymous brands, with Brinson Guitars ’ Landrum operation being capable of knocking out between six and 30 electric guitars a month, depending on demand, while the Reeves Guitars operation in Gilbert consistently produces between six and eight guitars annually.

The high quality that they promise is reflected in the prices, with the electrics listed on Brinson’s website landing in the mid-to-high $2,000s, while nearly all of the guitars listed on Reeves’ website exceed $5,000.

“It’s been tough, man,” Brinson said of finding a market for their higher-end guitars, adding that they’re actually affordable for luxury instruments. “We put a lot into it. The guitars really speak for themselves. You can pretty much compare it to anything better. The fit and finish of them is just excellent. So really, it’s just a point of getting them out there, getting them in people’s hands.”

Brinson also frequently does custom jobs, with some of these commissions also leaning into using guitars as a way to preserve memories.

“I’ve made guitars and put my friend’s ashes in them when he passed away,” he said, noting that within reason, he’ll do whatever people want.

As to the New Brookland guitars, Brinson wanted the history to be readily apparent to anyone looking at the guitar.

“They look very classy, “ he said. “But it’s got the particular colors. The stage was black, so I painted the guitar black. The middle piece of the pickguard is a piece from the stage, and it’s laminated with American holly.”

For Lyons, the guitars are an appropriate way to hold on to some of the history of the club’s former location.

“Having that stage carry on in another way, having it as a musical instrument, that still kind of represents what New Brookland was all about,” he said.