A specialty audio, lighting, and 12V customization shop in Lexington, SC — built around long-term customer relationships and the kind of installation work that holds up.
Sturgess Customs began in Lexington, SC as Jesse Sturgess’s specialty shop for the kind of automotive customization work that respects the vehicle as much as it respects the customer’s budget. The motivation was straightforward then and it still is now: most customization shops either pull builds from an off-the-shelf kit or sell more than the vehicle actually needs, and there was room in the Midlands for a shop that designed around the specific vehicle, scoped the work honestly, and stood behind the install over the long term.
The work that defines the shop today still comes from that same approach. Every system is designed around the customer’s specific vehicle and the way they actually use it. Every quote is walked through at consultation rather than emailed as a template. Every install gets the time it takes to do correctly. The shop has grown in scope and capability over the years — the categories of work we cover today, from car stereo to marine to Harley to recreational vehicles, reflect a broader customer base in the Midlands than the original shop served — but the underlying standard hasn’t changed.
Jesse Sturgess is the founder, owner, and lead installer at Sturgess Customs. His background is hands-on automotive audio and customization work, and that hands-on role is still where he spends most days — at the workbench, in the consultation room, and on the shop floor with every build in progress. The shop’s reputation in the Midlands isn’t an abstraction. It’s built one vehicle at a time by the person whose name is on the door.
That ongoing involvement isn’t a marketing claim — it’s how the shop operates. Quotes are walked through with Jesse directly. Design decisions on every build get his eyes before the work starts. Quality checks happen at his hand before the vehicle goes back to the customer. The result is a shop where the person who started it is still the one accountable for the work, and customers know the same person they spoke to at consultation is the one who built the system in their vehicle.
Every system we design is built around the customer’s specific vehicle and the way they actually use it. We don’t pull kits off a shelf and adapt them to the vehicle; we design from the vehicle outward, fabricating brackets, enclosures, and wiring runs to fit cleanly and last.
Quotes are firm after consultation. We walk through what’s included, what’s not, and why — at the quote stage rather than mid-install. No surprise charges, no scope creep, no upselling to options the vehicle doesn’t really benefit from.
Every install gets the time it takes to do correctly. We’d rather hold the vehicle an extra day than send it back to the customer with shortcuts in the wiring, the mounting, or the integration. The work has to hold up long after the install bay door closes — that’s the standard, and we don’t compromise it to move the next vehicle in faster.
Earned recognition across two layers — peer awards from the customers and communities we serve, and manufacturer authorizations from the brands whose products we install.
We’re one of few South Carolina shops authorized as a Hertz dealer for Harley-Davidson and marine audio work — a credential that means the Hertz lines we install on bikes and boats carry full manufacturer warranty and direct factory support. Hertz authorization is the strongest manufacturer credential the shop holds and one of the differentiators that brought riders and boaters to the shop in the first place.
Additional manufacturer authorizations across car audio, lighting, and specialty installation include JBL, Audison, Kenwood, Viper, and others.
SEE ALL AUTHORIZED BRANDS →The shop sits in Lexington, SC, and the customer base reflects what people in this part of the Midlands actually drive — daily-driver trucks, SUVs, and sedans, boats on Lake Murray, Harleys on the road, recreational vehicles from neighborhoods all the way out to the lake property crowd. The breadth of vehicles that come through the bay shapes the breadth of work we cover, and the local roots mean the systems we install are the systems we see used in the conditions our customers actually drive in — afternoon after afternoon, season after season.
Being close to where customers live and drive matters operationally too. Customers come back for follow-up work, recommend the shop to neighbors, and bring the next vehicle in years after the first install. That continuity — repeat customers and Midlands-rooted word-of-mouth — is what local presence actually means at the shop level. To hear what real local customers have said about the work, read customer reviews.
Three doors are open from here — explore the manufacturer credentials behind the work, hear from the customers we’ve served, or reach out when you’re ready to talk about a build.