Robin Guitars is a boutique guitar manufacturer located in Houston, Texas. As of 12/01/10, Robin Guitars has quit production of guitars although production of Rio Grande Pickups continues.
The company was formed in 1982 by Dave Wintz who owned the Rockin' Robin Guitar Shop at the time. Robin guitars were made in Japan by Tokai and Chushin until 1986, when their production moved to the United States. Notable endorsers include Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother Jimmie, who were frequently seen onstage with the "RDN" 6-string standard neck/6 string octave neck double-neck guitar in the 1980s. Eric Johnson has played them, and Stevie Blaze of Lillian Axe also played Robin guitars during the early part of his career. Robin guitars and basses have featured pickups from their sister company, Rio Grande Pickups since 1994.
Tim Kelly was the original guitar player in Slaughter. He was endorsed by Robin Guitars in Texas. Tim was killed in a car accident February 5th, 1998 on a remote highway in Arizona. Tim owned numerous Robin guitars. Tim was a huge Simpsons fan and owned several, custom-made Robin guitars with Simpsons graphics. This guitar has a Bart Simpson drawing and is signed by all the members of Slaughter. The guitar appears in several Slaughter videos and was one of the guitars most used by Tim Kelly during the Slaughter tours. Another guitar is known to have a Groening-inspired caricature of Tim with the phrase "I'm Tim Kelly Dude!".
Rumours had it that the guitar was stolen from Tim. Those are not accurate. The guitar was sold at a charity auction in 1991at the Hard Rock Cafe in Toronto Canada as documented in a brochure from the event. The guitar got fully signed by the entire band backstage at a concert in 1992. The initial winner sold the guitar to a guy from Portugal. He actually flew to Canada to pick it up on January 30, 1999. It was later sold to our collection.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDB1QB7rlPg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeCs9eYltzU
