Rio Grande Pickups was founded in 1993 by John "Bart" Wittroc. Bart had been repairing and dealing in vintage guitars since 1972, and is an active member of the vintage guitar show scene. He first started winding electic guitar pickups around 1978 as part of his vintage guitar restoration work. He aims to capture the tone and feel of the vintage pickups, from strat to tele single coils, up to Humbucking, but with the option of higher output and greater tonal variations.