George Hergen

George Hergen grew up during the folk boom in New York of the mid 1960s and fell in love with the luthiers of guitars and banjos as well as some of the colorful dealers in his area. He became friends with the legendary builder Jimmy D’Aquisto, and Stanley Jay, whose music store on Staten Island sold some of the most incredible instruments George had ever seen. His friendship with Stan not only led to working behind his counter when needed but traveling to NAMM Shows, guitar conventions and guitar workshops and factories. Luckily for us, George took photographs of many of his trips and in 2020 donated copies of these images to the NAMM Resource Center Archives.