Redemption Song: From Bars to Guitars

In his free time, John “Lex” Leuthold designs and constructs custom guitars. Though he’s taken a few lessons, Leuthold openly confesses he’s never learned to play himself.?

“I tried, it just never happened,” he said. “But, I’ve always loved music and was always fascinated by guitars. I love them, the sound of them, the way they look and feel.”

Leuthold’s wonder and mechanical abilities spawned an idea and eventually a modest side-hustle, one currently garnering attention. After displaying some of his 3D style guitar-cover creations on his Facebook page, his hobby has turned into a business, one he plans to expand.

“Someday,” he laughed. “After I retire.”

Until then, he takes satisfaction in watching the reactions of his customers when presented with the finished product he and partner Dan Walters have built.

“That’s the best part,” he said.

Life hasn’t always gone this well for the 52 year-old Leuthold. One specific date is etched in his mind: August 11, 2004.?

It’s like that for those in alcohol or substance abuse recovery. The day they say “no more” and stick with it has that effect. Redemption for Leuthold began by losing a job he loved.

“I was good at it,” he said. “I’d never gone to college but I was moving up, getting paid well.”

Perhaps Leuthold should have known. When it comes to regrets, however, hindsight is clearer than the thoughts of our former selves.?

His drinking career began with a telltale hint, even at the age of 13.

“Stupid boys doing stupid boys’ stuff,” Leuthold said. “I got real drunk before a parish festival in 7th grade. I passed out at the festival and of course, teachers saw me. It was bad.”

It got worse.

“Police were called,” Leuthold said. “They took me home, and while taking me home, I vomited all over the back of the (Cincinnati) District 3 police Suburban. They had to squirt it out and clean it in the driveway of our home.”

Leuthold’s father, John, had over a decade of sobriety at the time.

“I was two years old when my dad quit drinking,” he said. “After my festival incident, Dad scared me straight for a couple years, until I got to high school.”

A self-described introvert, Leuthold enjoyed the loosening effect alcohol gave him in social situations.?

“I was the guy who always wanted to fit in,” he said. “I was a mediocre athlete. I didn’t play sports when I got to high school, so I started playing drums and joined the school band.”

Leuthold’s drinking increased.

“During my sophomore year, my drinking had gotten to the point where I was kicked out.”

At the end of the year, the band director informed Leuthold he wouldn’t be welcomed back as a junior.?

“I always showed up to the games drunk," Leuthold admitted. "I’m sure it was easy for them to tell what was going on.”

After high school, Leuthold found work as a maintenance assistant for a pharmaceutical company, then as a senior lead packaging mechanic. He was eventually promoted to higher professional rungs, moving with his wife and two kids to Virginia.

“That’s when things spiraled out of control.”

Leuthold’s job required him to travel throughout the states and internationally.

“Whenever I booked my hotels, I made sure they were around the most bars and restaurants,” he said. “I had to be near places I knew I could eat, but also places I knew I could drink.”

A DUI and multiple drink-drenched disasters weren’t enough to change Leuthold’s ways. Not until that August day in 2004.

“I was at a work picnic,” he said. “I got hammered. My behavior that day…it’s humiliating to this day when I think about it.?

“I went to work on Monday and was called into the HR office.”

Leuthold was fired. With 19 years of perspective, he now says suffering the consequences of that day was a blessing.??

“I hated it at the time, but that day turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “I had to lose a great job before I finally woke up.?

“I realized I couldn’t keep going the way I was. I didn’t want my kids growing up seeing their dad like that.”

Today, Leuthold lives on a couple of acres in Vevay, IN, with his wife, Michelle, who became sober herself five years ago. He invited Walters, a former coworker, into his guitar business. He’s a kindred soul for Leuthold in discovering the possibilities of a new life.

Walters, a design engineer whose expertise Leuthold taps for help with 3D modeling and guitar designs, has been sober for 40 years.

“Dan designs the models and I print them,” Leuthold said. “I’ll buy the guitar neck and all the components and then put the guitars together.”?

What excites Leuthold most in the guitar building process?

“Watching the designs print, the prints that will end up on the guitars, that’s what I love,” he said. “These aren’t things that can be done in 24 or 48 hours. It takes seven to eight days for these to print.?

“Watching them build, layer by layer each day is exciting," he said. "Then building it, wiring everything up, hearing the guitar for the first time, all that. I love that stuff.

“When others see the finished product, that’s what’s really cool.”

Though referencing the guitars, Leuthold could have been talking about himself.

Want Lex to build you a customized guitar (to play, hang on a wall, etc.)? Email him at [email protected].?