Todd Nichols

Nichols Custom Guitars are built by Todd Nichols in his Santa Barbara workshop between summer tours playing guitar with his band Toad The Wet Sprocket. “I’m by no means a seasoned luthier, but after playing professionally for over 30 years, (since 1986 with Toad) I know what a great guitar feels, sounds, and looks like, and what parts work well together.” This all started when Todd was learning how to set-up and maintain his guitars every year to take on the road, which led him to building his ultimate ‘Partscaster’ guitars. A few were made for friends at first, but when he started playing Nichols Guitars exclusively onstage, and featuring them on his Instagram page @NicholsGuitars, he began building and selling more guitars. “I like to build small batches of light-weight guitars with my favorite parts and colors.” The first batch featured Bigsby Vibrato guitars with unique metallic colors such as Candy Tangerine, Candy Plum, & Candy Apple Green.

Todd Nichols, lead guitarist for Toad the Wet Sprocket, played a Nichols Custom Guitar - Heavy Relic Strat during the 2019 tour with Big Head Todd and the Monsters, notably performing "Golden Age" with it. This guitar was subsequently sold to Seattle-based artist Nate Chatterton.

Todd Nichols is confirmed to use a Gretsch G6136TSL Silver Falcon, as he is visibly playing it in a documented image.