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Bass Musician Magazine’s Year of the Luthier – Rick Link, Beardly Customs
How did you get your start in music?
I started by learning the trombone when I was in 5th grade. I took up bass in 1993 after listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers album Blood Sugar Sex Magic for an entire summer.
Are you still an active player?
Yes I am. I play in a band called Dirty Confession and a band called In The Company Of Heroes.
How did you get started as a Luthier? When did you build your first bass?
I’ve always wanted my own custom bass, but never had the money for it, so I decided to build my own. My very first bass was a neck through fretless six string. I started working on that on December 28th, 2010, which happened to be my birthday.
Portrait of a Craftsman from Daniel Montgomery on Vimeo.
How did you learn the art of woodworking/Luthier? Who would you consider a Mentor?
I am self taught, but I utilized the internet as a teacher. Talkbass.com has a luthiers forum that is a wealth of knowledge and is always available. I’ve networked myself pretty well during my time and have quite a few luthiers who I consider good friends and are always up to helping out.
How do you select the woods you choose to build with?
I go by what my clients want to use in their builds. Sometimes the woods decision is left to me and I just try to think of something I either have yet to work with or I think just look great.
How about pickups? What pickups did you use in the past? What electronics do you use right now?
This, and pretty much every option I offer, is up to the client. I don’t have a standard pickup or preamp, but I have used EMG, Bartolini, Aguilar, Nordstrand, Seymour Duncan, Instrumental Pickups, etc.
Who were some of the first well-known musicians who started playing your basses?
Evan Brewer (Entheos, Former Faceless, Solo), Sean Martinez (Decapitated, Solo), Andrew Grevey (Wretched)
How do you develop a signature or custom bass for an artist?
I listen to everything my client has to say. It’s their instrument and I want it to be a perfect extension of themselves. My options are wide open as well as my mind when it comes to building.
What are a few things that you are proud about your instruments and that you would consider unique in your instruments?
I’m proud of the fact I can do what I do. This is a great skill and not an easy one to master. I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel with each of my builds. Leo Fender set the standards years ago and they still hold true today. All that I am doing is putting my personal spin on the basses I build.
Which one of the basses that you build is your favorite one?
Every one! I suffer from, “I really don’t want to ship this out because it’s such a great instrument” with every build.
Can you give us a word of advice to young Luthiers who are just starting out?
Open your mind and network yourself. Make friends, both in real life and online. Finding luthiers on Facebook is a great resource. Don’t set any boundaries and keep your mind open.
What advice would you give a young musician trying to find his perfect bass?
I would say just demo as many different models as you can to see what fits you the best.
What is biggest success for you and for your company?
I recently built, and donated, a bass for Victor Wooten’s Bass Camp. I made zero dollars on the bass, but I was paid with an amazing experience and memories. Just knowing I had a great opportunity to give back was terrific.
What are your future plans?
Just keep on building and to keep learning. It’s been a fun ride so far.
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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