Lester Wagner
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Lester Wagner
Interview Date: October 17, 2007
Job Title: Luthier
Company: C.F. Martin Guitar Company, Inc.
Birthdate: April 30, 1928
Deceased: April 28, 2012
Lester Wagner began in the woodworking and sanding department of the C. F. Martin Guitar Company before World War II. He moved from the North Street Plant in 1964 to the bigger manufacturing plant in the current location on Sycamore Street in Nazareth, PA. Lester was assigned to the ukulele department at the height of the instrument’s boom in the 1950s. He attributed the boom to the popularity of TV host Arthur Godfry, who often played the ukulele on his show.