Hello! from Vibrosonic & Jaimie Muehlhausen

JANUARY 2025

Hello from Southern California,

For a long time I have known that I should be sending out more emails and connecting with everyone…friends, clients, co-workers, family. There are a lot of different people signed up to this email list and that’s because what I do is more than just a corporate-style design studio. It’s a lot of things. Graphic design is at the core of it all, but it’s really more of an overall creative life that makes a living from design, but more than dabbles in folk art, music, vintage goods, and yes, guitars. I love my guitars. I think…I hope…that that’s what separates me from the rest. We don’t just become business acquaintances…we often become friends in the process. I love the people I work with and love their creative visions and drive and want to find every way possible to help them achieve their dream, while feeding mine at the same time.

There are a few musicians that I love…Jeffrey Foucault, Caitlyn Canty, and the band Wilderado…who do a great job of keeping you up to date with their world in a more conversational, almost novel-esque, fashion. That’s what I want this “newsletter” to be. A conversation about what’s going on at Vibrosonic. This first one may be a bit lengthy, but there’s much to cover. Hope you stick around through some of it. And if this isn’t your thing, I won’t be offended if you unsubscribe. We all get a barrage of messaging every day.

Tulsa: Land of the Giants

As many of you know, I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There was reason to get out when I did…there weren’t a lot of graphic design jobs there at the time. And while it wasn’t the coolest place then, it was a great place to grow up. But Tulsa is a changed place with lots of progress. In fact, maybe one of the best cities in the entire country. Now, I won’t be leaving my adopted SoCal anytime soon, but I do enjoy visiting Tulsa and working with one of the most fun clients you could have: Mary Beth Babcock and her group of retail stores on Route 66. Mary Beth was named 2024 Tulsan of the Year! She's become a great friend along the way and it’s always fun to work on whatever her next brainchild is. You’ve probably seen me post on Instagram (@vibrosonic) about the huge project I got to be a big part of with her new store, Meadow Gold Mack’s. The photo below shows Meadow Gold Mack, the Friendly Lumberjack getting a visit from rock star Jack White. So far the store been a great success, right in the Meadow Gold District on Route 66, across from her world famous Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios. Well, the new scoop is that Mary Beth is moving her vintage store, Buck’s Vintage, across the street from Mack’s in what used to be the old Hardesty Press printing factory building. It will be a group of stores that we have named the 66 Collective. I got to design an awesome new vintage style neon sign for the “collective,” as well as a neon sign for Buck’s Vintage. I’ll have photos later this spring when the store opens and, you guessed it, a NEW giant statue will be unveiled, “Cowboy Bob” (small version seen below in MB’s hand). The fun part is that I got to connect my clients Iris Guitar Company with Mary Beth and the giant guitar he’ll be holding will be branded as an Iris Guitar. How cool is that? Oh, and our wonderful friends at Rocketbuster Boots in El Paso have given the thumbs up to using one of their iconic boot designs for his boots. Nevena at Rocketbuster is just the best and you’re going to want some of their boots! More on this whole project later this spring.

PROJECTS & THINGS | 2024/2025

I’ve been so excited to work on some really fun projects these last few months. I got to art direct a new book published by the esteemed Fretboard Journal, edited/compiled by Aussie guitar journalist Jamie Etherington. If you have any interest in guitars, woodworking, or tools, you might fall in love with this somewhat niche but cool book.

ORDER THE BOOK!

One of my newest clients this past year happened when my friend and longtime client Todd Lieman connected me with one of San Diego’s food stars, Debbie Kornberg. Debbie appears regularly on local television in San Diego and has her own line of spices, Spice + Leaf. But she wanted to test the waters on an idea of packaging some of San Diego’s most iconic flavors together as an item someone visiting San Diego would want to take home with them. We worked diligently to put together just the right packaging featuring iconic imagery from the area with a bit of an artisan feel. The “Flavors of San Diego” spice set has become an instant hit at the San Diego International Airport and soon to be found in some of San Diego’s upscale hotels and gift shops.

My friends at Iris Guitars just keep killing it and growing beyond their wildest dreams. One of the biggest stars in the American music world, Sierra Ferrell, needed a custom guitar that fit her unique style and her talent as a guitarist. I helped choose and lay out the fretboard inlay with Sierra’s name, and illustrator Sarah Ryan, whose work can be found on Iris Guitar’s annual limited edition guitars, as well as electric guitars by Creston Lea, hand painted the body of the guitar. And here you can see the unique instrument gracing stages around the world.

Although I’ve worked in and adjecent to the skateboarding world for a few decades now (what?), I had never had a chance to work with anyone in the longboard/surfskate section of the market until this past year. I just designed some new skateboard decks for SurfSkate Love, but I can’t show those to you yet. However, I can show you a few of the wheels we did in 2024 that came out great. Looking forward to more surfskate fun in the coming year.

As you may already know, I used to be in a band, man. I love creating and playing music. I still like to write songs, record them, and put them out in the world…whether anyone listens or not. I am a huge believer in the idea that the process of creating something is the reward…not the response from anyone else. And so I keep doing it and making myself happy in the process. But I’ll still tell you about it and hope you’ll give it a listen and enjoy it.

My fake band, The Murderers of Love, have a new 5-song EP coming out sometime this Spring called “No Hope of Finding Love.” But until then, here’s the first single from the album, “Oh Jenny.” It features Adam Lopez on the twangy guitar. You can find it on all the usual streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

I have so much more to share, but this is enough for this time. I’ll catch up again in February and report on the NAMM Tradeshow, some of my recent adventures in vintage and guitar hunting, and more. Thanks for reading!