Charles Avsharian is the CEO of Shar Musical Products, which he established in 1962 along with his brother, Michael. The brothers toured for years as professional musicians and along wit...
Lois Bach proudly worked beside her husband, Greg, to expand his music business into a strong retail and repair service. Lois joined Greg in the business after a successful career in tele...
Jason Bartel opened Maple Leaf Strings in 2011, right across the street from his father’s business, Baroque Violin Shop, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The two companies helped each other, and ofte...
Harry Benson became the president of William Lewis & Son when the company was under the ownership of Chicago Musical Instrument (CMI). Harry’s guiding principles resulted in the expan...
Byron Berline established the Double Stop Fiddle Shop in Oklahoma back in 1995. The store became a major hub for musicians which bought and sold a great number of both vintage and new in...
George Borun began his luthier endeavors as a hobby and soon found himself enthralled with the angles, the woods and the tools of the trade. He embarked on a mission to assemble the bluep...
David Brock is a gifted violin and banjo teacher who provides private lessons at the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California. His long association with the musical instrument store goe...
Eli Broxham is a versatile, classically trained double bassist whose extensive repertoire spans various genres, playing with bands such as Dallas Ugly and The Arcadian Wild. His father, a...
Skip Buss played trumpet for several big bands on the road and in local hotel ballrooms during the great Swing Era of the 1940s. He decided to leave the road when his son was born at whi...
Lou Capece began selling musical products in the 1960s and has since become one of the industry’s largest musical instrument wholesale distributors. One of the successes of the company ha...
Ellen Cavanaugh brought her innovative business ideas and skillful communication and marketing concepts to expand the historic brands that make up the Super-Sensitive Musical String Compa...
John Cavanaugh and his father bought the Super-Sensitive Musical String Company in 1967 and worked long and hard to bring the products into new and international markets. John created the...
Gary Chen is the owner of Stein On Vine, the historic horn and string shop in Hollywood, California whose customer list reads like a who's who of jazz and film music. Gary was hired by t...
Charlie Daniels won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance in 1979 for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", which reached #3 on the charts. The following year, "Devil" became a ...
Ken Dattmore is the Marketing Manager for Yamaha within the strings department, which has been his passion for his entire career. He started in the industry with the William Lewis & ...
Jenna Day attended the NAMM Fly-IN in 2015, where she realized the power of music and the role each of us has in bringing music into the lives of young students. Having participated in he...
Vidal de Teresa closed his veterinary clinic in 2000 to pursue his dream of establishing a distribution company specializing in exotic woods. His vision was to supply luthiers of guitars ...
Hans Dörner grew up in the music town of Schönbach/Luby surrounded by musical instrument makers - including his grandfather the violin maker and tonewood dealer Joseph Trasny and his uncl...
Michael Doucet has become an important link to the roots of Cajun music, not only because he has written and performed the musical style since he was 6 years old, but because of the month...
Sharon Dunckle runs the music retail store her son, Mike, established when he was just 12 years old. Mike's Music is located in Eagle River, outside of Anchorage, Alaska. Mike saw the n...
Ahmet Ediz grew up in Turkey and began playing the violin at an early age. He became a professional concert musician and traveled with several orchestras. Along the way he noticed a nee...
Rebecca Ensley studied clarinet in college and yet somehow got caught up in the crazy world of stringed instruments as a luthier and repair technician. It all started in 1991 when a frien...
Ilse Fischer delivered orders for Kirschnek on her scooter to the luthiers of the music town of Schönbach/Luby. Her father, Franz Kirschnek, established the company which specializes in e...
Giorgio Giannini proudly recalled the beginning of his family’s involvement in the music industry as part of his interview for the NAMM Oral History collection. Mr. Tranquillo Giannini w...
Robert Gillespie was teaching at Ohio State University in the music department when he developed and hosted a summer workshop for violin teachers. In addition to his regular teaching, pl...
Kurt Glaesel was born into a violin-making family, which dates back to 1720, but it was Kurt who made his family name nationally known. After a noted 20 year career with Heinrich Roth, Ku...
Walter Glaßl is leading the Walter Geipel Company known for producing rosin for string instruments in Bubenreuth, now in the third generation. The company was founded 1908 by Walter Geipe...
Greg Gohde's love for violins and bow making began in college and soon became his life's work. He moved to San Diego from Chicago, where he opened a repair shop and crafted handmade bows....
Klaus Götz’ family comes from Wernitzgrün, a small town not far from Markneukirchen. His grandfather, Conrad August Götz, founded C.A. Götz in 1884 which initially produced tuning pegs an...
Karlheinz Götz was proud of his musical heritage. His grandfather, Conrad August Götz, was the founder of the C.A. Götz Company back in 1884. The company, which was located near Markneukr...
Endre Granat prolonged the legacy of his former teacher and friend by writing The Heifetz Scale Book. The method book, published by Lauren Keiser, put down what Maestro Jascha Heifetz nev...
George Gruhn is without question one of the top experts of vintage guitars on the planet! George collected guitars before opening the world renowned Gruhn Guitar Shop in Nashville, TN in ...