An Interview with Kent Viles

This summer, we had the chance to connect with Kent Viles, a talented local musician and inventor. Kent’s journey led him to Gunnison, Colorado where his passion for music and craftsmanship flourished. As the creator of the Dobrato guitar, Kent has made his mark in the music world, offering artists a new way to explore sound. His story is one of creativity and innovation, rooted in a deep love for music and the instruments that bring it to life.

Bluebird had the privilege of featuring his story in this summer's edition of Bluebird Days Magazine. Read the full article below to learn more!

Kent Viles: Strings Attached

By Bud Bush

The strings are still attached because local guitar expert Kent Viles, creator, innovator, and musician, with his business partner, owns the rights to an ingenious device that manufacturers such as Fender or Gibson guitars would love to get their hands on.

Kent Viles is an inventive, humble soul from Muncie, Indiana, who found Gunnison on a high school road trip in the late ’60's. As with many, he decided he would have to return for college – less inspired by the academic offerings, yet more so for the skiing and fishing. Within two weeks of his arrival, he met his future wife, Christine, and the path was already forging.

Discovering Guitar

A musician and composer since middle school, Kent learned to play on his grandpa’s high-action vintage Gibson acoustic guitar. Once he learned five songs, the inspired player was promised his own guitar. “I got the genetic code for musical instruments from Grandpa, who could sit down at a piano or guitar and play anything without any sheet music,” Kent reflects. “I could pick up an accordion or flute and play it – music came easy to me. I was once even a professional jazz saxophonist.” In no time, Kent demonstrated his natural talent, played five songs on Grandpa’s guitar and his dad took him to the guitar shop. Kent remembered, “This was in the ‘50’s and there were all these now classic Gibsons and Fenders – and what did I pick out? A Teisco from Japan with five pickups and thirty switches – what was I thinking? Well, it had close action and was easy to play. Our first band was The Sandels, and our moms would drive us to fraternity parties to play at Ball State.”

Wildwood Music

Once in college at Western Colorado University, Kent worked at Wildwood Music on Tomichi where the Barnyard restaurant once resided. The violin shop and music store was run by Bradley Bowman. He taught Kent how to put an instrument together. “One day Bradley showed up out of the blue and handed me the keys, and said ‘send me some money every once in a while when you make it.’” The chips were falling into place.

“I majored in art and biology at Western and wanted to do medical renderings, but this music opportunity sounded way more exciting. Once I started running the shop, we added the top brands: Gibson, Fender, Guild, Sun, Rogers, and Ludwig. We created a pretty epic shop in the middle of nowhere.” Kent always had an entrepreneurial mind and determination adding, “In this small town, you had to think outside your bubble. We added the first Western Union in Wildwood Music – and then offered records, tapes, 8-tracks, cassettes, and lessons. We even expanded into electronics in the ‘80’s and sold the first Walkman’s in the region.” Always seeking new opportunities, they expanded further, being the first store to market cellular phones and satellite dish systems, including advanced audio and video home installations.

Castle Creek Guitars

In the latter part of the 2000’s, the recession hit and electronic sales suffered. “I had to refocus, and in 2011, I opened Castle Creek Guitars on Main Street with a business partner. We created videos of all the guitars we carried and put them online. We hosted a weekly TV show in the shop, ‘Live from Castle Creek Guitars’ that was streaming worldwide before anyone was doing it. It was inspired by a previous live feed we transmitted over the phone line to Earth Radio (now KBUT) from Wildwood Music.”

Dobrato

“I love the tone of a resophonic guitar (also known as a dobro), especially with finger style blues.” The resophonic guitar looks like an acoustic guitar with a hubcap on top. It was designed and created to add volume to the playing when competing with horns in a band.

Kent is a slim figure in a western button shirt, with a stylish almost rockabilly cool gray quaff and retro green safety glasses. His open and easily approachable nature makes it natural for him to pick up a guitar and start picking for you with seasoned pointed nails on his right hand.

“I thought it would be cool to have a vibrato on this guitar, and after researching it, I found that nobody had done it before on an acoustic guitar.” A vibrato, also referred to as a tremolo or whammy bar is a stainless-steel handle mounted to the bridge near the right hand of the guitar player. When pulled, it lowers the tension of the strings, creating a wah-wah effect. Picture Jimi Hendrix or the surf rock of the Ventures.

After retrofitting several acoustic guitars with vibrato tailpieces, and as with many of Kent’s ideas, he took this one into his own hands and decided to design and build an acoustic resophonic guitar with a vibrato, the first of its kind in the world. “I started with the Republic Highway model, a metal body that came out of Texas. Then, I developed my own mounting system that was sturdier and didn’t compromise the sound.”

“Another guitar enthusiast out of upstate New York, James Alday, contacted me about this guitar I had developed. He had come up with the concept for a pull bend.” This is slang for the b-bender guitar, which was originally created in 1968 by Gene Parsons and Clarence White of the Byrds. Their version is a complex pully system routed through the body from the back of an electric guitar, and it emulates the sound of a pedal steel guitar when activated by a lever on the strap knob, often heard in americana and country music.

“I was intrigued by the idea, and we exchanged drawings. I came up with the design for the mechanism, which is also incorporated into the vibrato bar.” This is a first of its kind – a simple vibrato bar mounted on the bridge of the guitar (no cumbersome pully system or routing required), that when pushed in towards the body, lowers the pitch of all the strings (surf rock), and when pulled upward, bends the B string up a step (country twang).

The Dobrato is born, coined by Kent, a term combining “vibrato” and “dobro”. Kent’s partner has the patent on the design of the bending mechanism motion, and Kent has applied for a patent on the b-bender with the Dobrato, which is the only way they can be purchased. “It’s a simplified motion with the fewest parts – an ergonomic and elegant design.” It’s a transformational achievement for Kent, as well as for performing artists who play multiple instruments and now can achieve much more versatility without changing guitars.

The News is Out

Although Kent is more about the creation than the proclamation, word has gotten out about his unique Dobrato. Word of mouth has succeeded as marketing and proves to be the best form of advertising. “A-list” players from many genres have gotten their hands on this hand built and individually signed work of art, including Tom Petty (Heartbreakers), Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Jimmy Buffet, Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), and Jason Isbell, to name a few. Kent assesses the diversity of the musicians playing his instrument, “The wall of fame is great, and I am grateful, but these young indie artists who are playing the Dobrato are intriguing – incorporating unique styles with alternate tunings in a more textural kind of movement. And the guys that kill on the Dobrato are the working musicians that gig nine nights a week – really inventive players exploring new creative territory.”

Legacy

As Kent approaches his seventh decade, he contemplates the legacy of his creation, “I prefer to keep the package – the vibrato b-bender with the resophonic guitar (as opposed to selling the mechanism separately for use on other guitars). The plan was to build the first Dobrato and the last Dobrato and ride into the sunset. I have spent zero on advertising and I have remained under the radar.” At this point, Wikipedia doesn’t mention Kent’s apparatus in the B-bender section. “I’m less interested in certain people who might be drawn to it. But the guitar enthusiasts know about it and enjoy it. It’s been successful and I still enjoy it. This latest build (adding up to about 500 built) is honestly the culmination of everything I’ve learned along the way, and I’ve never built anything better.”

Identifying one of his fondest moments, Kent shares an experience about multi-Grammy winner Jason Isbell, “Jason sent me tickets to see his show at Red Rocks (famous outdoor amphitheater near Denver). He gave us backstage passes and he couldn’t have been nicer, genuine and we had a noticeable mutual respect for each other. I showed him some things he could do on the bender that he wasn’t aware of. The Dobrato inspired him to write “If We Were Vampires,” a Grammy winning song. I climbed to the top of the theater to get a broad perspective, and there was a full moon. Jason pulls out the Dobrato and plays Vampires solo, and I got the shivers. If I could put that in a bottle – a proudest moment, seeing it in action – and it sounded ******* great!”

Learn more about Kent’s Dobratos at dobrato.com.

View Bluebird Days Volume 13 here.