Amy England was just seven years old when she proudly sold her first set of guitar strings in her family’s Indianapolis music store. Her grandparents, Leola and Amos Arthur, had opened Ar...
Orval Engling has become an expert on the Ibanez guitar brand, so much so that he helped write a book on the company’s history. Orval began collecting Ibanez guitars in the 1990s and has ...
Benny Englund was a rock and roll singer as a teen when he fell in love with the music industry! He toured with groups as a roadie and sound engineer. He also worked for a time for a fe...
Chuck Erikson is known as The Duke of Pearl! His business supplies luthiers and large guitar companies with shells and other in-lay products for instrument making. As a luthier, Chuck saw...
Ron Escheté grew up in and around Houma, Louisiana and, during his NAMM Oral History interview, said, “I was never taught the blues, it was just something all around all the time. Playing...
Wally Evans grew up in Wales with music all around him. He played piano and sang in church. He later learned to play the guitar and worked in several bands at night and worked in a power ...
Mike Fazio opened a small retail shop in St. Louis called Fazio's Frets & Friends. The year was 1978. Within a few months it was clear that he found his niche and before long the st...
Jose Feliciano is one of the most recognized and loved guitarists worldwide. Jose’s unique style and approach to songwriting and guitar playing is accessible yet technically brilliant. At...
Nancy Felixson remembers attending concerts at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica in the early 1970s. The store has a wonderful reputation for selling great instruments and gear as well...
Phyllis Fender was married to Leo Fender, the great pioneer of the solid body electric guitar. After reading several publications on his life’s work, it was a refreshing treat to hear abo...
Ren Ferguson is among the most noted master luthiers in the United States and has been since the 1970s. Many luthiers who wish to follow his style of building have studied his approach to...
Tony Ferguson has had an amazing career in music! He began playing guitar at a young age growing up in England, touring with bands such as Unit 4 + 2 and Christie before switching to the ...
Dieter Fischer comes from a family of luthiers and started working for Höfner in Bubenreuth when he was 14 years old. He continued working for the next 56 years for Höfner, of which 30 ye...
Samantha Fish has earned numerous accolades for her unique self-expression, which she channels through explosive riffs, visceral rhythms, and spine-tingling vocals. She was born and raise...
Larry Fishman had an idea to create an electronic pick up for the upright string bass. The task was not an easy one. In fact, others had tried and failed to produce the correct balance of...
Steve Fister began playing the guitar at the age of five and by twelve he was performing in clubs. Nothing else seemed to drive him like music and so he kept pursuing the opportunities th...
Harry Fleishman was the founder of Fleishman Instruments located in Northern California and has become among the most noted luthiers of his time. His passion for music developed in part ...
Vic Flick is perhaps best remebered for a little lick he recorded on guitar for the movie James Bond! His fascinating career as a musician, which dates back to the late 1950s, was capture...
Ritchie Fliegler has come to be known throughout the music products industry as “the Amp guy.” He wrote several articles and two popular books on amplifiers. He has been in the forefront ...
Jesse Flores was the founder of Flores Music stores located in Peoria and Pekin, Illinois. He had the idea of surrounding himself with music when he was a young boy and when the chance ca...
Jim Foldvary was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and was exposed to music at young age since his father was a violinist. Jim took up the guitar with some of his friends and remembers pla...
Bill Foley has endeared himself to guitar lovers and would-be luthiers alike when he wrote the book How Your Guitar Works: An Introduction to Music Instrument Science. Bill has also writt...
Shane Fontayne grew up in England and came to the United States for the first time in 1976. He has recorded and performed with a long list of musical greats including Joe Cocker, Van Zant...
Frank Ford was beginning to build guitars and mandolins when he met Richard Johnston. The two guitar lovers decided to open a repair shop in Palo Alto, California called Gryphon Stringed...
Lita Ford asked her father to use his old reel to reel tape machine as an amp for her newly purchased electric guitar. With a little soldering, she transformed the tape machine and set o...
Orrin Foslien grew up around music. He started out playing the ukulele, then moved to the banjo and guitar. In high school he began singing in the choir and playing the trombone. Around 1...
Ann Foster is the matriarch of the Foster Family String Band and a guitar player in this Bluegrass group. Her husband Bill and his brother sang as a duet growing up so it was natural for ...
Peter Frampton is known around the world as a musician and singer who took the charts by storm in the 1970s. To the music products industry Peter is best known as a friend and promoter of...
Micki Free is a Native American rock guitarist who has a strong passion for music education. He has worked with many tribes to encourage the youth to become active music makers. His own p...
Larry Fresch Sr. exuded the passion and the love of music that is so much a part of this industry. His four Fresch Music stores in Ohio not only became part of their communities, they enc...
Hubert Friar was hired by the Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo in 1959. Hubert worked for the company over 25 years. He worked at the end of the line, doing fret work. Hubert grew up...
Elaine Frizzell was an artist endorser for the Mosrite Guitar Company back in the 1960s. Over the years she became close friends with the company’s founders, Semi and Andy Mosley. She wit...
