I set out to make the finest pickups I could…
About Me
My name is Aaron Campbell and I'm the creator (and builder and secretary) of Rumpelstiltskin Pickups.
I bought my first electric guitar with money I had saved by washing dishes when I was 17. I had seen a fantastic player on Austin City Limits late one night and was immediately struck by his style and sound. I looked up this player as quickly as possible and found out it was a gentleman named Stevie Ray Vaughan. In that instant I knew that I wanted a Stratocaster and to learn the blues.
In those first magical years of exploring my new beloved instrument, I discovered a few technical secrets about the guitars that these incredible players used.
Like many of you, I got to a point in my journey on the guitar where I felt my tone could be improved or changed more to my liking. That soon lead to pickup swaps. I ended up with a few different sets, and I really enjoyed the different voices they all produced. It was after working at Callaham Guitars that I gained the confidence to venture out on my own as a pickup maker. With my obsession for tone and a high product quality standard, I thought I would be able to offer something that could truly bring happiness to guitar players of all stripes.
My goal has never been to compete to become the greatest pickup builder on the planet, but it is to bring something new to my customers that inspires them to play more often and to leave them feeling their hard-earned money was well spent.
So then, "Why use the name Rumpelstiltskin as a business name?", you might ask.
It all begins with the Miller's Daughter
The story goes that there was a poor man (the "Miller") who had a beautiful daughter, who wanted to make a name for himself to a king. To this end, the Miller decided to spin a tale (see what we did there?) claiming his daughter had a special ability - to spin straw into gold. The king being pleased, he put her in a room and told her to make some gold by the next morning, under the pain of death. Not knowing what to do, she began to weep, when a little man walked into the room…