Dick Dale

Tom Anderson, founder of Tom Anderson Guitarworks, fell in love with the guitar at age eight, inspired by the electrifying sounds of 1950s rock and surf legends like Dick Dale. A natural-born tinkerer, Tom was drawn to taking things apart and perfecting them — a passion that led him to Schecter Guitar Research in 1977. After seven transformative years, he boldly launched his own company in 1984 from his home workshop, eventually evolving into the renowned Tom Anderson Guitarworks.

John Blair grew up during the first wave of the Surf Music craze in America during the late 1950s and early 1960s. John later formed his own surf band and again, years later, in the 1970s when he was credited for the "second wave" of the popularity for surf music.  While his band has recorded and performed all over the world, he collected as many facts about the style.  As a result, John has written two books that bring light to the musicians, recordings and the cultural elements of that endearing style of music making.

Dick Dale was the King of the Surf Guitar whose driving style redefined instrumental music in the early 1960s. His music conjures the mood of the era so successfully that many of his tunes such as Miserlou are often heard on movie soundtracks and television programs that help evoke that era. Dick was also a noted figure in the music products industry as instrument designer and endorser. Over the years he performed countless times during the NAMM shows including an emotional performance for the first of our annual Tribute programs, which is held every Thursday of the Anaheim Show t

Barry Rudolph was always interested in electronics and music. During high school he played drums in a surf band and worked full time in the aerospace industry while putting himself through college. After graduating in 1970 he happened upon a job at a recording studio in Santa Ana, CA. The job provided Barry the learning ground that would serve him when he was hired by Jackie Mills who had just purchased Larrabee Studios. Within two years Barry had engineered his first number one song (Al Wilson’s “Show and Tell”)! He also had a long and successful career as a writer, which began w