Rob Elrick was born to build instruments. By 14, he had already fallen in love with bass after playing piano, cornet, trombone, and bass trombone; while studying at the Center for Creative Studies—College of Art and Design (now the College for Creative Studies), Elrick worked in the foundry, welded, blew glass, and spent time with wood, metalsmithing, and pottery. Inspired by the imperfections of a 6-string bass he’d been playing for several years, Elrick began building basses after his time at Berklee from 1988 to 1991, and he exhibited at his first NAMM show in 1993, attracting a roster of artists that would eventually include solo bassist Steve Lawson, Hagar Ben-Ari (Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Moby, James Corden), gospel/R&B artists Daric Bennett and Tiffany Lloyd, South African icon Bakithi Kumalo, Matthew Lux (Iron & Wine, Isotope 217, Pharaoh Sanders), and Trevor Weekz of Goose.

Although his Standard series were built with partners in the Czech Republic and some Elrick-designed Cort basses have been manufactured in South Korea and Indonesia, Elrick’s high-end domestic instruments have always been single-handedly fabricated and assembled in Chicago. Over a 34-year span, Elrick built nearly 1,700 basses, many of them — over 1,250, he estimates — in his workshop inside a two-story, 4-bedroom/3-bathroom house on the North Side, handling every step of the process himself, from choosing the wood, fabricating the components, and hand-carving the neck and body contours to sanding, finishing, wiring the electronics, doing fret jobs, setting up each instrument, and shipping basses to buyers. (His friend John Files helps with sales and marketing.) But last year, the perfect storm of rising property taxes, unpredictable tariff updates, and supply-chain pressures helped pushed Elrick to pack up and move to Valencia, Spain. We checked in with him after the annual Guitar Summit in Mannheim, Germany.

How was the show?

I think it was a really great event. Unlike NAMM, Guitar Summit is a show focused directly on bringing players and brands together. Since the number of boutique bass guitar retailers has dropped dramatically since 2008, this is incredibly important. An event like Guitar Summit may be the only opportunity a lot of players have to see and try basses (and guitars) from a lot of great independent brands.  

Have you exhibited at the show before?

I had previously exhibited at Musikmesse in Frankfurt and the Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin, but this was actually my first year exhibiting at Guitar Summit. I had wanted to attend the show for the last couple of years, but I always had scheduling conflicts. I have been keeping an eye on the event, though, and getting feedback from past exhibitors with whom I have friendly relationships.  

What was the vibe?

There is one thing about this show I can tell you firsthand: It’s growing! What started as a two-day event has now expanded to three days, which is compelling, considering that NAMM reduced the length of their exhibition a few years ago from four days to three. And Guitar Summit exclusively features guitar products — no drums, lighting, or DJ equipment.   

And no amplification!

That’s one of the best things about the show. Effective demonstration of an instrument is very difficult in a noisy environment. A headphones-only show really is a game-changer for both the visitors and exhibitors. 

You began going to the NAMM show way back in the early ’90s. How would you compare the Guitar Summit to NAMM?

Time and technology have really chipped away at NAMM’s place at the top of the industry, which stings a little because NAMM has been an indispensable part of my brand’s history. For a couple decades, NAMM was the single most important thing I did all year — and for a while, twice a year (remember Summer NAMM?)! But the advent and proliferation of the internet stripped away NAMM’s most valuable contribution to the industry, the opportunity for discovery.  

How so?

Every retailer that wanted to stay on the leading edge put a pin in their calendar for one weekend every January, but without the monopoly on information NAMM once enjoyed, the event has become — for independent brands — very much a “show and tell” for a dwindling audience of insiders, as it is still officially presented as an industry event that is “closed to the public.”   I’d love to see NAMM return to form, but the market it serves has changed as well, and I’m afraid that finding the right formula to recreate their former success may remain elusive. But I do remain hopeful. 

What made you decide to leave the U.S.?

I’d been planning to relocate for quite a while; health-care options for self-employed people in the U.S. have never been good. My progress was interrupted by COVID, which extended the time it took to execute the move.

How had your situation in Chicago become untenable?

I was in my last shop for 25 years and had developed a pretty comfortable situation. Unfortunately, the property taxes have gotten really out of control — my property taxes rose 1200% (12 times) during those 25 years, far more than my income! Taxes and insurance had become a larger monthly expense than my mortgage ever was, and with no protection for long-term property owners, I would have been forced to relocate sooner or later. 

Did you move all your machines, or did you get selective?

I did unload a few small machines that I had kept as backups, but for the most part, I moved everything, including spares. I just had my first machine failure last month, which is a bummer, but things do wear out, and you can’t always anticipate when. 

Where’s all the wood that lived in your old shop?

It’s all here in Valencia. I’ve been building my inventory for over 30 years and couldn’t afford to leave behind such a valuable collection of rare and figured woods. I did cull some “deadwood” to ensure I wasn’t moving any garbage, but over 90 percent of it made the trip. 

Were there legal issues with protected species?

There were legal issues with every species! It took months of preparation and documentation to sort it out, and I was lucky to find a few people whose assistance was absolutely indispensable. Finding the right partners to manage the relocation of my wood inventory was more difficult than you can possibly imagine. I couldn’t have made it happen without them. 

Did you stop taking orders during the move?

I never stopped taking orders; we just extended my projected delivery time. Things are finally returning to a more predictable turnaround of about six months for new orders, depending on specifications.

Was there a period when you weren’t building basses?

It took a couple of months to break down my shop, organize everything, and get it packaged for shipping. I also had to get an entire household, including pets, organized and packed, so it was just over six months of packing, waiting, and unpacking. My shop equipment arrived a couple months before my material shipment, which gave me time to get the shop organized. 

Did the move affect pricing?

I held the line on pricing through COVID, so a modest price increase was long overdue to compensate for rising operating, material, and component costs. The move itself has not directly affected pricing, which is still very competitive relative to my peer brands. 

Did you recreate the old layout or rethink everything?

The new shop is different in many ways, which has afforded some opportunities to create a more efficient layout and to organize in a way that would have never been possible in my old shop. But there are some areas of the new shop that are purposely familiar.  

What kind of challenges have you faced?

I don’t have an established network of reliable contractors here in Valencia, so just getting people to show up has been a challenge. That seems to be true just about everywhere now, but I’ve been surprised by how many contractors will show up to quote a job — and then completely vanish. My limited Spanish also makes it a hassle to unnecessarily cycle through contractors.  Getting anything done that requires outside assistance is always hard; the tax reporting scheme here is definitely much more cumbersome for a small business than it is in the States. 

Is there anything easier about being in Spain? 

I haven’t yet found anything easier, but it’s hard to make comparisons to the situation I created for myself over so many years in Chicago.  

Will living in Valencia affect your design philosophy?

I can’t imagine how it would. The music-products industry is a world market, and responding to what that market demands has always been essentially borderless. 

Has moving affected your workflow at all? 

Nothing about the brand has changed. Elrick Bass Guitars will still be entirely, individually hand-carved by me.

Do you have plans to introduce new lines and/or styles?

Because every bass I make is a 1:1 bespoke instrument — apart from the basses I’ve spec’d for inventory — I don’t have any new Elrick models planned at the moment. The headless option is still a relatively new offering, as is my Icon bass model, both of which continue to evolve. I’ve done some designs for Cort that may still come to market in the future. 

What’s happening with Modern Vintage?

We plan to continue producing Modern Vintage instruments with our partner in South Korea, and we’ve been discussing some new models for 2027. Fortunately, a free trade agreement still exists between the EU and South Korea, whereas the U.S. free trade agreement has been largely abandoned by the current administration. That — combined with continuously changing tariffs — has created a lot of questions about the brand’s ongoing viability in North America. 

What would you tell a fellow luthier who was thinking about making the same move?

Retire! [Laughter]

If you could return to your old shop tomorrow, would you?

I don’t think so. After 25 years, it was long overdue for a good clean-out, which had been at the top of my to-do list for more than a few years. But the property tax situation made any future infrastructure investments in that shop inequitable.

Do you think you will return to the U.S. one day?

I suppose anything is possible, but the economics would have to make sense.