Scott Anderson was among the renowned sales representatives at Wurlitzer during the iconic company’s heyday. When Wurlitzer “meant music to millions” (to use their famous slogan) Scott ...
Edward Garbett was the founder of the Progressive Music store in McKeesport Pennsylvania in the years following World War II. He worked for Gretsch as Educational Director and a decade l...
Jason How is the CEO and Chairman of Rotosound, the British string company his father formed in 1958. James How was an innovative toolmaker who designed equipment that could produce vari...
Martyn How is the Commercial Director or the British string company Rotosound. Martyn and his brother Jason carry on the traditions of their pioneering father who started the guitar and ...
Mac Wiseman joined the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1946, the same year the legendary bluegrass band was formed. The groups two founders, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, formed their own group...
William F Ludwig III, known within the industry as B3, sat next to his sister Brooke as the two reflected on the Ludwig Drum Company’s 100th anniversary for the NAMM Oral History program....
Brooke Ludwig Crowden remembers her grandfather, William F. Ludwig, working around the factory inspecting drums and insisting on a quality product. She remembers the day her father, Wil...
Harry Carter was already a school band director when he opened a music store in Ottumwa, Iowa. The year was 1948 when Harry and two partners set out to develop a store specializing in cus...
Seymour Duncan may very well be the most innovative rock and roll guitarist around. As a teen he formed a rock band but noticed the pick-ups in his guitar were not creating the sounds he...
Harvey Leach has an eye for art and skilled craftsman hands, which together has come to define a new era in guitar luthiery and in-lay artistry. Harvey’s work in guitar design has devel...
Grit Laskin grew up in Toronto and as a teen had his mind set on playing the guitar during the folk boom of the 1960s. He performed, recorded and wrote music, some of which was recorded ...
Renee Karnes recalls meeting her future mentor when she was just eight years old. Over the years she developed both a love of banjos and a friendship with Henry Lea, who taught her the c...
Larry Robinson's career as a luthier began in 1972 as an unpaid apprentice for three years before working for Alembic, Turner Guitars and with Modulus Graphite, a San Francisco company ma...
John Keal was one of the very few who attended the Conn band instrument repair school in Elkhart, enrolling in the school just after World War II. The program only lasted a few years, but...
Reggie Young is known throughout the world as one of the great studio session players referred to as the Memphis Boys. He played guitar on thousands of recordings as a session player in ...
Norman Pickering had a storied career. He worked as instrument designer for the legendary C.G. Conn Company in Elkhart. He also played a large role in the audio engineering field with his...
Bill Crowden was one of the true veterans of the music products industry! He owned and operated Drums Ltd, one of the hot spots for jazz, symphonic and rock drummers for several decades....
Larry Larson loved the accordion! He played it most of his life, so when he had the idea to sell and teach the instrument, opening a store seemed like the right thing to do. He opened ...
Stuart Spector’s creation of the Spector Bass is recognized around the world. As Stuart explained, little has changed in the design of the Spector guitar since it was first created in 19...
Gotthold Meyer became a very successful German wholesaler when he and his wife formed the 'Gotthold Meyer' company, which later on became 'Musik-Meyer'. His visionary thinking led to str...
Bob Moore’s bass can be heard on countless recordings made in Nashville during the 1950s through the 1980s. As a member of studio musicians known as the A Team, Bob played on recordings ...
Joseph Rashid studied the art of violin-making like few others. His goal was not to mass produce the instrument or even to sell them, but rather to hand-make the instruments based on sci...
Zeb Billings opened Billings Pianos in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1956 beginning a long and celebrated career in the music industry. With great success as a retailer, Zeb branched out into ...
Ernesto Gittli was born in Uruguay and moved to the U.S. as a small boy before he began taking piano lessons. He met his wife, who also taught music, and together they envisioned a music ...
Shep Shepherd co-wrote the now classic instrumental “Honky Tonk Part 2” while playing in the Bill Doggett band. The recording became a hit in the late 1950s and helped build a stronger ...
George Quinlan was proud of his store outside of Chicago, for which the walls are full of photographs of the children he rented or sold an instrument to, and the fact that he survived har...
Dick Richardson was working with the Lyons Band Instrument Company in Chicago in the early 1960s when he was given the chance to run the Musser vibraphone division of the company. Dick b...
Billy Shaw and his wife Donna opened Desert Piano in Palm Springs after working in a series of piano sales jobs, including one at Colton Piano where the couple met. Billy is well known ...
Charles McPherson has thoroughly enjoyed his life as a music maker. The jazz saxophonist was strongly influenced by the players of the big band era, such as Johnny Hodges who played in t...
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...