INFINITE HORIZON

Patch Rubin coaxes a dimensional acoustic voice from his superbly crafted Wide Sky Guitars P125C electric.

- DAVE HUNTER

PATCH RUBIN LAUNCHED Wide Sky Guitars in the mid-2010s with several acoustic guitar models. He branched into building electrics a couple of years ago with the P125, a non-cutaway semi-hollow design with a 16th-fret neck joint, and it quickly became a main squeeze for Gary Clark Jr. Now comes the P125C, a cutaway version of that model, which I'm looking at this issue.

Rubin's bio reads like the perfect backstory for a guy destined to build artfully functional guitars. Born in Albuquerque, raised in New York, Rubin trained at the Guitar Institute of Technology in L.A. in his youth before working as a tech for two years at Andy Brauer's legendary Studio Rentals business, servicing the instruments of countless big-name pros. Some 10 years on the road as a touring musician followed, peppered by side gigs as a jeweler, carpenter and custom furniture maker, before he established Wide Sky Guitars in Taos, New Mexico. Then, around the middle of 2021, Rubin and his wife moved the business to Hawaii's Big Island, where they now run a 100 percent off-grid, solar-powered shop and catch all their own water.