Marvin Lamb was looking for a job in 1958 and found an opening at the Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo. “This was right at the time of the boom in the industry and it was a great time ...
Bill Lawrence was known for his pick-up design and his long career as a German based guitarist. In fact, when visiting the Framus Museum in Markneukirchen Germany, you can learn of his in...
Mike Lawson always wanted to become a musician as a child. The process was not easy as his family could not afford an instrument for him, but his desire was always strong. He worked hard ...
Scott Lombardo worked in the music products industry since he was fourteen years old! His passion quickly developed after hearing The Beatles three years earlier. He would drill holes and...
Trini Lopez became an early Latin-American pop singer with a string of recordings in the late 1950s and 60s including "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree." Frank Sinatra took him under hi...
Ted McCarty was the president of Gibson Guitars when he signed Les Paul to help design a series of instruments with his name. Ted went on to design and patent guitars such as the Flying ...
Steve Miller led a popular rock band beginning in the 1960s with a string of hit songs, most of which he wrote. His passion for music began at a very young age. Did you know Les Paul was ...
Steve Mills was a music student in Seattle when he landed a job at Crown International in 1979. He began working on the bench on circuit boards, and after earning his electrical engineeri...
Eugene Moles grew up surrounded by music. His father was a studio musician who also had a guitar repair shop in Bakersfield, California (he was an expert on refinishing, he added the famo...
Scotty Moore set a date and time on July 4, 1954, to get together with a young singer who wanted to record with Sam Philips at Sun Records in Memphis. Sam asked Scotty, who had recorded w...
Maudie Moore was hired by Gibson Guitars in 1962 to do small piece work and soon branched out to engraving, which became a specialty for her over the next several decades. In fact, she o...
Bill Paige is one of the six founders of Heritage Guitars! The idea to start Heritage Guitar began when the Gibson Guitar Corporation closed its Kalamazoo, Michigan factory in September ...
Les Paul will forever be known for his role in the popularity of the electric guitar, the design of the Gibson Les Paul guitar, the multi track recording, the early guitar effects, and hi...
Kevin Philbin is the Director of Sales & Marketing for KHS America, located in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. His musical journey began as a child growing up with a dad who played drums. When...
Tom Pooton was not yet a teenager when he began taking guitar lessons. A year later, with the support of his mother, Tom attended a Gibson clinic where he connected with some of the emplo...
Brian Ray had the most remarkable beginning of his amazing musical career when he was hired by Bobby Pickett to play guitar on Pickett’s big hit “Monster Mash” for a fundraiser. The event...
Alvino Rey tinkered with putting a phonograph pickup in his banjo to increase the volume in 1927. His inventive mind also led to early guitar pickups and the design of a pedal-steel guita...
Clive Roberts has wonderful memories of his parent’s passion for music. His mother played piano and his father performed his own songs on the ukulele-banjo for the troops during World Wa...
Vic Russelavage was hired by Chuck Levin as a repairman while Vic was playing his trumpet professionally. Chuck became a mentor and encouraged Vic to focus on the details and to take as m...
Frank Seta began his career in the music industry working for Baldwin Pianos before working for Gibson and then establishing his own retail store. Frank has built lasting friendships with...
Tim Shaw is the Chief Engineer-Guitars for Fender Musical Instruments, helping the company create guitars, pickups and other products. Tim’s career began when Charlie Wicks hired him to r...
Joyce Shelven was a factory worker for the Gibson Guitar Company when it was located in Kalamazoon, Michigan. She was hired in 1947 just after the war and began working in the sanding de...
Perry Smith was already playing the guitar when he walked into a small music store in San Rafael, California, and heard someone playing jazz. That one moment changed his musical path and ...
Johnny Smith played drums professionally with the Oak Ridge Boys and Travis Tritt, among others, before a group of investors approached him to help create the Songbirds Guitar Museum. Joh...
Joe Spann joined the Gruhn Guitars crew in Nashville, TN to assist in writing appraisals. Appraising musical instruments is an important part of the retail store's business, and has been ...
Willem Van Dijk started his career with Gibson Guitars as a sales rep for their European branch in 2005. With a focus on his sales and technology background, Willem helped expand the comp...
Tom Van Hoose has become an expert on the Gibson 400 Series guitars and in fact even wrote the book on the subject. As a collector, Tom found himself surrounded by used guitars and decide...
Ren Wall proudly followed his father's footsteps and worked in the Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He began working for the company in 1960 and continued until 1982. A few...
Abraham Wechter grew up listening to Yiddish music and took piano and violin lessons as a kid. He used to sneak a transistor radio under his pillow at night and listen to underground rock...
Jim Whitehill provided a very important overview of the products and politics of the Norlin Music Company, which was originally named Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI), when Mr. M.H. Berl...
Johnny Winter has become an important link between classic blues artists and modern audiences. Johnny’s blues style stays fresh and current while playing the important standards by artist...
Will Woo started playing in rock groups at an early age as did his brother, Allan. Allan and Will played in the band, Hamster Farm and in 1980, Will joined the UK chart topping synth band...
