Progressive Music

 Ed 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 later was hired by Yamaha and oversaw the company’s growing school band programs throughout the 1960s and 70s.  One of his first employees at Progressive Music was the instrument repairman William Schultz, who got his start in the industry thanks to Ed.  When Mr. Schultz became the CEO of Fender Musical Instruments and moved the company from California to Arizona, Ed moved too.  The two remained life long friends until Mr. Schultz passing in 2006.

William Schultz turned the struggling Fender Musical Instrument Corporation into an industry leader after purchasing the famed guitar company from CBS in 1985. Born in McKeesport, PA on July 30, 1926, he began playing the saxophone professionally before World War II and then opened his own musical instrument repair business within the Progressive Music store. He later joined Yamaha Musical Products Co., rising to president before being lured to CBS Musical Instruments, a division of the broadcasting company. He served many roles within the industry including on the boards the American Music Conference and the Museum of Making Music.