Meet the Builder.
My name is Christian A. Hulsey, AKA Charlie Rain, owner/operator of Copacetic Customs. I've been playing guitar since I was 10 years old after being inspired by Nirvana and Guitar Hero and mastering all the songs on Expert difficulty. (Impressive, I know) Ever since I got my very first guitar & subsequently became curious about how it worked, I have always taken apart my instruments, fiddled with them and tweaked them to my liking. Even from that young age I was fascinated with how modular electric guitars are, with just about every piece being able to be customized and upgraded to your liking, be it for aesthetic purposes or to upgrade the stability, playability or sound of the instrument.
This of course led to a new fascination with neon guitar strings and stickers and painting my guitar with paint pens to simulate a "dripping blood" finish. Oh the joys of being a young punk rocker, right? This initial foray into guitar modding and customization gave me confidence to mod pretty much every guitar I had after that and soak up all the knowledge I could along the way.
My guitar obsession stayed strong over the years and led to me eventually getting my first job as a sales associate at a local music store at age 20. There, I quickly proved my aptitude with setups and tech work by grabbing older dusty guitars off the wall in my spare time and making them sing and shine again, addressing and fixing small issues, etc. The positive feedback from customers on guitars I had set up led to me eventually taking on service tickets of my own, despite the store already having other techs. I taught myself the basics of soldering and guitar electronics work, built and refinished guitars of my own on the side, and furthered my craft as a musician while I was there. By the time I was 23, I was taking on more complex jobs like nut replacements, fret levelling, full re-wire jobs, etc. for satisfied customers on a regular basis.
Unfortunately when COVID-19 hit the US in 2020, my small hometown store no longer had work for me as shutdowns forced business to come to a halt. Without work and without a way to satiate my need to fiddle with guitars, I began to refinish and modify guitars at home and resell them to fund the next project. It was a fun hobby at first, until I realized work was not going to come back and things were not going to return to "normal" anytime soon. My gameplan shifted and I decided it was time to use my unique skill set for a new endeavor: I moved to Austin to live with my best friend and started Copacetic Customs in our garage.
When I started, I had basically no money and one little toolbox of tools i had accumulated over the decade plus of playing and modding, and would wire and assemble guitars in our kitchen, turning a little space on the counter (and sometimes every single surface in sight) into my work bench. Over the years I slowly acquired new tools and new skills, made new connections and honed my finishing and assembly skills. Finally in 2023, it was time to branch out. Feelgood Guitars now lives in 3 dedicated workspaces and has expanded our offerings and services to just about anything you can dream up in the world of electric instruments.
And as they say, the rest is history! Thanks for reading this far and I look forward to potentially helping make your dream guitar a reality! Check out the "Gallery" to see finished projects and "Before You Order" page to read more about what services we offer. Cheers!
