Flying high: Sacramento’s Rare Bird Stereos gives vintage items a sound upgrade

At first glance, you might not think an old suitcase, a tackle box, an oil can, and a water canteen have much in common, other than their age and probable destiny in a landfill.

Kaden Hill sees the potential for a high-quality bluetooth speaker in an aesthetically pleasing vintage body. That’s how he came up with Rare Bird Stereos, a Sacramento business that feeds his love for thrifting and antiquing with a healthy side of music.

Hill, a Texas native, has been antiquing for as long as he can remember. A conservationist at heart, he’s also always been one to tinker and try to make something new out of what he already has available.

“Most of what we need has already been made,” says Hill.

That’s why he spends much of the year on the hunt for things that have lost their usefulness and purpose, so he can give them new life in his garage. Some boxes he finds when he returns to Texas to go antiquing, and some are found at estate sales between Sacramento and the Bay Area.

A good scroll through his Instagram, @rarebirdstereos, shows you he’s serious about making old things work in a new way. Things you never imagined being useful today are now the focal point of a living room or a backyard BBQ. An old water canteen provides the soundtrack for an epic camping trip. A vintage toy microscope box has moved in next to the plants on a shelf to bring music to the living room. A countertop 1980s TV was gutted and turned into a speaker even using some of its original parts. Hill uses his previous experience as an art framer and what he learned as an electrical apprentice to make it all work.

It’s not just about looks for Hill. He is a serious music lover. He works with several vendors to get high-quality sound equipment and cords for the speakers. Speakers might get a 2x8 watt bluetooth 4.0 amp. If they are larger, they get a 50-watt 5.0 bluetooth.

Each speaker is unique and has different needs. He’s also using lithium rechargeable batteries, which get 15-20 hours of music per charge and have a four or five-year lifespan. He’s come a long way from using old printer cords to get his items running, like he did when he started out five or six years ago. Customers say the quality of the sound is just as good as any other high-end speaker, but each of these has personality and style.

Hill loves the creative process of making each into something special, calling them all his “birds.” He puts a lot of love and thought into each one. “I always think the one I’m working on is the best one I’ve done,” says Hill.

Every bird Hill makes is unique, and comes with challenges in the making. A metal casing of some sort can be difficult to cut, for instance, and requires a lot of insulation to keep the sound right. An old TV takes a lot of work to gut out the tubing, but recreating a screen for it is extra fun. Some of them even get names like, “Jacques Cousteau, the Portable Bluetooth Speaker,” or “Ziggy the Fiberglass 50w Bluetooth Suitcase Speaker.”

Now that he’s got things somewhat figured out, Hill likes to group his work days into designing one day, cutting another and wiring on another day.

“I’ve got a fine-tuned process,” he said.

He was able to make 35 new items for Christmas. Hill’s not interested in putting quantity before quality, though. Even though he can make the smaller ones in a couple of hours, he’s focused on finding new challenges and new ways of doing things. “I like that they’re one-offs,” says Hill.

When Hill’s not working on something he’s found, he does custom work, turning family heirlooms into stereos. Think Grandpa’s old toolbox, or your great-aunt’s train case. Maybe it’s the cooler your family took on every camping trip, or your own Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox. Hill can make it new again. “I love making things that are beautiful and functional,” he says.

Find rare bird stereos

You can catch Hill every Saturday at the Midtown Farmers Market, and he updates his Instagram regularly with events he plans to attend.

If you’re not going to be out and about in the Sacramento area, you can also find his items on his Etsy shop at etsy.com/shop/RareBirdStereos. Or maybe you think you’ve found Hill’s next great challenge in the attic? You can contact him through his website to talk about custom work, rarebirdstereos.com.

This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.