The Road to Your Name Podcast

Road to Your Name
Season 8, Episode 9
Guest:  Steve Johnson — Vexed Instruments owner and Tattoo artist
This episode was recorded in December 2025

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

In this episode, Lisa talks with Steve Johnson (who goes by Steve Haven), owner of Vexed Instruments and a tattoo artist working out of Six Nations of the Grand River. Steve builds and repairs electric guitars and basses by hand, from sanding and finishing to wiring and engraving — and he's the kind of maker who notices when a part doesn't feel right and decides to build the better version himself.

What started with fixing his own guitar after a repair shop turned him down has grown into a full custom-build practice: roughly a dozen guitars built since the summer of 2024, a three-month turnaround for custom orders, and details what nobody else seems to be doing — including fretboard position markers inlaid with wampum shell. Steve also talks about his parallel life as a tattoo artist trained under Steve Hill (16 Aces) in Ohsweken, the ethics that guide who he will and won't tattoo, and the unexpected lessons learned from building a five-foot-long guitar.

This is a conversation about craft, patience, and what happens when you decide to just teach yourself the thing nobody else will do for you.


WHAT WE TALK ABOUT

- How Steve got into guitar building: a repair shop turned down his guitar for not being "good enough" to work on, so he taught himself instead
- Starting with assembly before learning to build individual components from scratch, beginning in the summer of 2024
- The full process behind an electric guitar build: sanding, painting, clear coat finishing, and wiring
- "Vexed," the name Steve engraves into each headstock and fills with epoxy so it becomes a permanent part of the instrument, rather than using a simple slide decal
- Building guitars for musicians in the hardcore and metal scene, including his experience seeing one of his builds played live for the first time with the band Reality Denied
- Custom touches that set his work apart: oil-finished necks instead of clear paint for a stickier-resistant, sweat-resistant grip, and fretboard inlay dots made from wampum shell — something Steve says he's never seen done before
- "Mystery finish" builds, where a thin layer of black paint covers the true finish underneath, designed to be worn away gradually through play rather than artificially distressed before sale
- Building electric basses as well as guitars, drawing on his background as a bass major at Mohawk College
- A look at famous guitars in music history, including Jimi Hendrix's left-handed Stratocaster and Van Halen's iconic red, black, and white instrument
- The challenge and lessons learned from building a five-foot-long guitar, including entirely new approaches to internal wiring and cavity routing
- Steve's process for learning the craft: deep self-study, online research, and following the tutorial videos of a luthier he credits with passing on hands-on, practical knowledge
- NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants) as a potential venue for connecting with other builders and the wider music products industry
- Steve's parallel path as a tattoo artist: training under Steve Hill (tattoo name "16 Aces") of Ohsweken, starting his apprenticeship right as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020
- His tattoo style, rooted in American traditional with his own illustrative, mischievous twist
- The ethics Steve applies before tattooing someone, including conversations about placement, life circumstances, and his firm rule against tattooing anyone under the influence
- Tattoo trends he's observed, including blackout tattoos and the realities of laser tattoo removal, which he's experienced firsthand
- Steve's hope to eventually combine both crafts — offering a tattoo alongside a custom guitar build or repair
- Where to find Vexed Instruments and Steve's work online


GUEST

Steve Johnson (Steve Haven) — Guitar and bass builder and repair specialist, owner of Vexed Instruments, based on Fifth Line at Six Nations of the Grand River. Bass major, Mohawk College. Also a tattoo artist trained under Steve Hill ("16 Aces") of Ohsweken.

Instagram: @vexedharshface


RESOURCES MENTIONED

- Vexed Instruments — Instagram: @vexedharshface
- 16 Aces Tattoo (Steve Hill), Ohsweken
- NAMM — National Association of Music Merchants
- Aboriginal Legal Services — aboriginallegal.ca
- Support the show: click Donate at the top of the ALS homepage
- Facebook: Road to Your Name


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Road to Your Name is produced by Aboriginal Legal Services and hosted by Lisa VanEvery, Mohawk Nation, Wolf Clan. Recorded on Haudenosaunee territory with technical assistance from True Seed Media. Nia:wen for listening.