If you really think about it and aren’t afraid to sound a little cheesy, love is always behind the founding of a manufacturing company. Why would anybody otherwise pretty much “condemn” him or herself to building something in (hopefully) humongous quantities for the rest or their lives?
In this light, Peter Taylor’s idea to call his guitar and stompbox company with the name of the love of his life (Chellee, the woman he’s now married to) seems extremely appropriate.
Peter’s “other” loves of his life are guitars and stompboxes. He built his first electric six strings in 1998, and debuted the Chellee brand in 2003 with the first Model One guitar. In 2007 the stompbox bug started making his creative juices flowing. He seems obsessed with overdrives (you guessed it, everything started with a deep fascination for the Tubescreamer).
His effect line consists of one compressor and four overdrives, although two of them (the Odies) are variation on the same TS inspired circuit. Then there’s a Blues Breaker based pedal (the Sir Robin Overdrive) and a Klon inspired one (the Ponyboy Overdrive).
Peter’s philosophy is pretty simple and exudes a strong working ethos:
Use the best materials you can, over engineer it, and do it right the first time. […] My pedals use Switchcraft 12B stereo jacks for both input and output because they hold the cable tighter. I use mil-spec Teflon insulated hook-up wires and all of my PCBs have a built-in strain relief design to eliminate wire breakage at the board. I also hand solder every pedal myself and test each one before boxing and shipping.
You can find more info in the gallery of the chellee pedals below, each thumbnails opens a video!
