My name is László Orbán. “For me, instrument making represents self-expression and freedom; it allows me to live out my creative drive.”
Live music touched me already as a child, since my father was the guitarist of the band Trams in Kiskunlacháza, and the band rehearsals often took place at our home. I always looked at the guitars and amplifiers in my father’s room with admiration.
My original profession is furniture and building carpenter, but life swept me into the world of motorsports, where I spent more than 20 years. Then at the age of 40, my father handed me a bass guitar, and from that moment on I couldn’t put it down. My first instrument was an Epiphone EB-0 bass guitar, which I started tinkering with for better playability, shaping it to my hand: I sanded down the neck, refinished it, and changed the pickup. I found challenge in hopelessly bad guitars and began to restore some of them, through which I gained a lot of experience.
Eventually, I took out my old woodworking tools, bought and built special instruments and machines, and started to create my first own instrument, which I wanted to meet my personal needs. Building that guitar took 8 months.
I make electric guitars and bass guitars. I use a one-way removable truss rod. My favorite woods are pine, poplar, walnut, various fruit trees, hackberry, and linden. I also like modern materials such as titanium screws and carbon. For surface treatment I sometimes use traditional materials like spirit stain.
My instruments are gladly used by musician friends who are close to me, and in this way I also support them: István Atrakocsi (Bass Beton Band), Péter Szikszay (Reanimation), Attila Bilisics (Persze).