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behind the
TONE.
For more than 40 years, James Buddy Rogers has chased real tone—not in labs, but on stages. A JUNO-nominated blues guitarist, he’s toured internationally and played rooms where tone either works or gets exposed. When he couldn’t find pickups that delivered the feel he needed, he built his own.
THe BTone story
Buddy Rogers was James’ father — and the reason music runs so deep in his life.
A blues lover and mentor, Buddy introduced James to the sounds that shaped him and supported every step of the journey. When Buddy passed in 2010, James kept playing — but tone became more than sound. It became memory, connection, and purpose.
To carry his father’s legacy forward, James Buddy Rogers took on the name Buddy — a tribute to the man who gave him the music in the first place.
That legacy still shapes every BTone pickup today.
B94 marks 1994, the year James began winding pickups.
B43 Juiced traces back to 1943 — Buddy’s birth year — loud, hot, and unapologetic, just like he liked it.
B10 Spirit honors 2010, the year Buddy passed, capturing a vintage soul voice shaped by memory and feel.
BTone means Buddy’s Tone.
Every pickup carries that legacy — built with honesty, history, and respect for where it all started.
The Early Years
In the early ’90s, James began hand-winding pickups out of necessity. He was chasing a specific feel and response he couldn’t find anywhere else, and off-the-shelf options weren’t getting him there.
So he started building his own — winding, installing, gigging, then rewinding. Every change was tested on real stages, shaping an ear for what actually mattered when the lights were on.
Life on the Road
Decades of touring and recording became the real testing ground. Small clubs, loud bars, festivals, and studios all revealed how pickups behaved when conditions weren’t ideal.
Those nights taught James what survived long sets and bad power — clarity, touch sensitivity, and dynamics that stayed honest no matter the room.
Recognition
As James' playing gained recognition, more musicians began asking about the pickups behind his tone. Award nominations, recording sessions, and years on the road reinforced what he'd already learned—the best pickups serve the player, not the spec sheet.
The Turning Point
Friends, fellow musicians, and studio players kept asking the same question:
"What pickups are you using?"
Those conversations became the turning point. What began as pickups built for one player slowly became pickups built for anyone chasing that same feel and response.
BTone Is Born
BTone wasn't created to start a pickup company.
It was created to share decades of real-world experience with players looking for better tone.
Every pickup is still hand-built in Maple Ridge, BC—one at a time, using the same philosophy that started it all:
Build for the player. Not the spec sheet.
BTone Today
Today, BTone continues to build pickups one at a time in Maple Ridge, BC. Every design is shaped by decades of performing, recording, repairing, and listening—not marketing trends.
Whether you're choosing your first set, upgrading a favorite guitar, or bringing a vintage pickup back to life, the goal remains the same: help you spend less time fighting your gear and more time playing.
