Steve Araujo grew up in Southern California playing guitar and bass in school and in local bands. Becoming a professional bassist, Steve toured and taught music for many years. Seeing a ...
John Carruthers has established himself as a leading expert on guitars and amplifiers as a designer, builder and repairman. Working along side Leo Fender at Music Man, John helped improve...
Billy Carson was listed in the Guinness book of world records for growing the largest watermelon ever weighed. And if you think that is something, consider the fact that Billy also worked...
Susan Carson opened her first music store, Taylor Guitar Shop, at just 18 years old in Johnson, Tennessee. Taylor Guitar Shop became the local hangout spot for bluegrass pickers and those...
Christy Coobatis is a college music professor whose amazing musical journey includes playing professionally before he was a teenager, beta testing guitars for Leo Fender, and helping to c...
Michael Doyle was traveling with a band when he had an opportunity to tour the Marshall factory. It was an eye opening and fortuitous experience. Several years later he was offered a job ...
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...
George Fullerton befriended Leo Fender back in the days before Leo quit the radio repair business and started in the guitar making business. George worked for the Fender Guitar Company fr...
Jim Greenhill opened Jim’s Music store in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The area was brimming with recording activity in 1977 when Jim opened the store and as a result, most of the studio sessi...
Dave Gupton has had a long career with a number of companies and a rather impressive list of innovators who helped pioneer our industry. Dave worked in retail with Karl Bruhn before joini...
Bob Harrison tells many stories of his father and aunt working in music retail when he was a child. His aunt, Mary L. Spence, owned a store with her name on it in Plainview, Texas. She wa...
Dale Hyatt was hired by Leo Fender while the iconic guitar builder was still a radio repairman in Fullerton, CA. The year was 1948. Dale recalled all of the major landmarks that helped es...
Roxie Hyatt was married to one of Leo Fender’s early sales representatives, Harold Hyatt. Harold first worked for his brother, Dale, who Leo hired in the late 1940s. After working for Dal...
Rob Joly was playing in a surf band in 1966 when Leo Fender hired him to work at a teenage fair. The fair attracted young students and Leo felt the event would be great to introduce his n...
Lowell Kiesel, as the founder of the southern California guitar company Carvin, joined the ranks with Leo Fender, Paul A. Bigsby, and the Rickenbacker Company, in establishing the new era...
Ken King performed in several Country and Western bands in and around Los Angeles beginning in the 1940s. While playing his guitar as a guest on the Spade Cooley television show in late 1...
Bob Luly built the first sound system for the Rolling Stones that they used in the United States. The system was created for the Orange Show in the 1960s and led Bill to build systems for...
David McLaren worked closely with his father, John McLaren Sr., at BBE Sound in Southern California, which purchased G&L Guitars. David fell in love with the G&L story and product...
John McLaren Jr. grew up in the music business as his father, John McLaren Sr., served as a strong leader for CBS Musical Instruments, which owned such brands as Steinway pianos and Fende...
John McLaren Sr. served as the president of BBE Sound, which develops pro audio gear. The company purchased G&L Guitars and has been dedicated to keeping the spirit of the founders an...
Don Randall met Leo Fender before World War II when both men worked in radio repairs. After the war they decided to form a business together that would allow Leo to focus on developing a ...
Owen Ray recalls his father buying him a ukulele when he was a kid and his passion for string instruments began! Owen played a vital role in the Australian guitar market when he started r...
Herb Remington was the steel guitarist for Bob Wills and the Texas Playboy who built his own line of guitars called Remington Steel. Among his fascinating history: being long time person...
Bob Rissi was the founder of Risson Amplifier Company, which produces Made-in-America products based on Bob’s own designs. He began designing amplifiers in 1960 when he was hired by Leo ...
Van Schipper is a guitar luthier who has enjoyed embracing the roots of his craft. As a student of guitar building, he sought the advice of others with a mind to paying tribute to his gre...
Babe Simoni began working for the Fender Guitar Company in 1953. He was a teenager when George Fullerton hired him to work on the factory floor. Babe’s father had worked in the plant just...
Jim Washburn took on a writing assignment as a journalist for a newspaper about the electric guitar, which led to a series of books and articles that has documented a significant chapter ...
Curtis White was 11 years old when his father, Forrest White, resigned from Fender Guitar Company. Curtis remembers being devastated and wondering what the family would do since Fender wa...
