Kieran Downes played piano as a child, but switched to bass in high school to play in a friend's band, and later discover his true musical passion when he picked up his brother’s guitar. ...

Robert Yates is known as Uncle Uke for a very good reason - he plays, builds, and sells ukuleles. Robert opened his own store, HUG Ukulele, on the big island of Hawaii with his wife Patri...

Vidal de Teresa closed his veterinary clinic in 2000 to pursue his dream of establishing a distribution company specializing in exotic woods. His vision was to supply luthiers of guitars ...

Agostinho Rodrigues, known by his nickname Tico, is the owner of Porto Guitarra which is located in the center of Porto, Portugal. Even though his education focused on being a mechanical ...

Stefano Trabucchi’s father loved music and encouraged his son to play the violin when he was eight. Stefano was fascinated by the instrument and by thirteen wanted to build his own. The f...

Tim O’Brien joined the Taylor Guitar team in the marketing department back in 2013. At the time, the digital world was changing with the rise of smart phones and social media. Tim assembl...

Chris Wellons was playing percussion in grade school, and about the same time, he took an interest in wood working. He was hired as a cabinet builder while still in school and continued i...

Charlie Redden played guitar in bands when he was in school and always has had a passion for playing. After working for Amazon in the early days of that company's history, back when they ...

Sebastian Dirr has relatives that play string instruments professionally, so it was only natural that they welcomed it when Sebastian decided to become a bow maker. After studying musicol...

Manfred Gleissner is a part of Gleissner tonewoods, which is known for supplying high quality tonewood to luthiers around the world. Grandfather Anton Gleissner founded the company with h...

Gerhard Dotzauer has made a living selling musical instrument parts to companies worldwide. He provides bridges, exotic woods, machine heads, and specializes in necks for banjos with moth...

Dana Bourgeois formed Bourgeois Guitars in 1993, having already worked as a luthier on several projects including those with Paul Reed Smith and Eric Schoenberg. His passion for guitar bu...

Ervin Somogyi began his career as a instrument repairman, which is how he learned the important elements of a guitar. He studied what went wrong with guitars, their weaknesses, and what h...

Bogdan Tesla is related to the physicist Nikola Tesla, who was born in the village of Smiljan, Austrian Empire (today that area is part of Croatia). Bogdan was in the military, but found ...

Marinko Tesla expressed a deep sense of pride in the fact that he works alongside his father, Bogdan, who established Tesla Tonewood Serbia in 1991. The father-son team work long and hard...

Manuel Delgado is proudly following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather as a luthier of musical instruments. His grandfather began making classical guitars in 1928 and since th...

Marty Lanham first moved to Nashville in the early 1970s from San Francisco and soon set up his first workshop. He worked for Gruhn Guitars as a repairman for eight years while fine-turni...

Andy Allen established the custom shop within the Maton Guitar Company in Melbourne, Australia. The company was created by Bill May back in 1946 along with the help of his brother Reg. Si...

John Monteleone grew up on Long Island, New York - the perfect spot for absorbing the rich history of the arch-top guitar. He studied the instrument and became a well-respected and sought...

Roman Zajicek was born in Kolin in the Czech Republic, where for several decades the government made it difficult to do business as an independent luthier.  In 2003, when he had the oppor...

Darren Webb has played a key role at Santa Cruz Guitar Company since joining the team in the 1990s.  With a focus on the service and repair of older Santa Cruz instruments, most important...

Adam Rose is a luthier and guitar designer for Santa Cruz Guitar Company and has worked with the company's founder, Richard Hoover since the 1980s.  Adam's passion for the woods has been ...

 Roger Giffin is a master guitar luthier whose guitars have been played by musicians around the world.  He began building guitars as a teenager in London and went on to work for Gibson in...

Siggi Jäger is a founder of Human Base. He specializes in hand crafting bass guitars. Sigge started making instruments in the mid 1980’s at Hoyer Guitars in Tennenlohe near Erlangen, Bava...

Elmer Reeder and his brother purchased a sawmill outside of Lansing, Michigan, right after World War II.  It was during that time that Elmer became an expert in wood, an important part of...

Maudie Moore was hired by Gibson Guitars in 1962 to do small piece work and soon branched out to engraving, which became a specialty for her over the next several decades.  In fact, she o...

Kazuo Yairi was one of the most renowned guitar luthiers in Japan. His long career began as a child when he watched his father building unique handcrafted instruments for local students a...

Fritz Kollitz was an expert on woods used for musical instruments and gained an international reputation for his knowledge and service to violin and guitar luthiers alike. As the founder ...

Vijay Talwar’s father sold wood in India, and when Vijay began working for his father as a teenager they noticed an increase in the amount of wood being sold to make musical instruments. ...

George Gruhn is without question one of the top experts of vintage guitars on the planet! George collected guitars before opening the world renowned Gruhn Guitar Shop in Nashville, TN in ...