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How long have you been in the industry?
Since April 1998 professionally, since 1992 in the shade of the tree.
How many years have you been MECP certified? How long have you been Master certified?
I received Basic for the first time in 1998, then 1st Class in 1999. I didn't renew it when it ran out since the shop I worked at wouldn't help to pay for the test and generally didn't care. Then I got Basic and Advanced within a month of each other in 2006 after moving to Best Buy. In November of 2006 I got Master on the first try after three months of studying…this was before the study guide came out.
What is the year, make and model of the most difficult car you've ever worked on?
Bentley Arnage R Mulliner. It was Ralph Lauren's old car. I called Bentley though, told them who I was and that I was a MECP Master and believe it or not they knew what MECP was! The car crew chief called me back the next day and faxed all the notes they had on the car. Turns out he is a huge fan of Alpine's demo cars, The Fishman and Rockford's old RTTI. Anyway since each Bentley is hand built by a single crew it had all the minor issues they had run into while working on it, notes on assembly, and everything. The wood is book and mirror matched Burl hand-picked by the owner so if you scratch it or crack it it's $15k to replace it all. No vinyl at all, merino wool and butter smooth leather everywhere.
I personally think the only reason it was the hardest was because I was psyching myself out about parts prices. Mechanically and electrically it was very simple, just very expensive.
Electrically, probably integrating an aftermarket deck into the Lexus' with the Nakimichi Systems. I did it way back in '99 before all the fun intergration parts came out. A total nightmare. I did not understand multiplexing circuits, my meter theory was very weak and all in all took way too long to do. Came out great in the end but that was a week later. Now it would be done in a few hours.
Honestly any car can be done it just takes longer to think through it, visualize what you are going to do or find your wiring.
Give us a rundown of the system installed in your vehicle right now.
1997 Dodge Neon Coupe: Alpine 9835 Headunit, JL Audio 300.4, Alpine Type R components (I ran out of cash and couldn't get the diamond Hex's I wanted), two JL audio 8w1v2 in seperate aired sealed boxes, Rockford wiring, crossovers setup on the o-scope at 48db/oct cascading, 24db/oct on the amp and 24db/oct on the deck, 8's are x-over at 120hz, the Alpine Type R's at 50hz.
This took forever to fine tune since the deck has a digital x-over setup and the amp has an analog dial. But once it was dialed on the crossovers and equalizer I love it! That's it. Nice and clean sound not too loud just crystal clear. Fully dynamated vehicle, 3 layers in the door and 2 on the floor, 1 on the roof. I wish I hadn't done that now that I started autocross racing with the SCCA. It's 160lbs of weight, great for everyday driving, just too heavy when racing.
Name the top five artists in your MP3 player at the moment.
Bad Religion, Less Than Jake, The Bouncing Souls, The Prodigy, The Crystal Method
What is your favorite tool to use in the installation bay and why?
I use four tools every day on almost every car and could not live without them. Flush cut dikes from Small Parts Inc., Cornwell Crimpers, DeWalt drill gun and Astro Pnuematic Blue Teflon panel popper.
What's the best advice you have ever gotten in your installation career?
SLOW DOWN! Seriously it's not a race. Speed comes with practice. Take your time at first make sure you understand what you are getting into before ripping a dash apart. Think "How would they design this to go together?" I was told this one week after moving to my second shop that I stayed at for 5.5 years, right after I blew up a dash panel by rushing and pulling way too hard. Treat every car as if was your own. I live by this, it doesn't matter if it's the Bentley I mentioned earlier or a $50 clunker: Treat it like it is your baby. I try and drill this into every installer I've trained.
Who inspires you to further your skills and your career in mobile electronics installation?
The factory designers... They throw us some curve balls so we have to be quick on our feet and able to adapt to anything. No matter where the industry goes I need to be flexible enough to change with it.
My wife and kids. Steve Brown (He should be up for installer of the century), Dave Kindig, Chip Foose and other car customizers who are working on the total package. My fellow Employees, both in store and nationally. The Secret Weapon, probably the best group of guys ever to help out other installers.
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