Rebecca Ensley studied clarinet in college and yet somehow got caught up in the crazy world of stringed instruments as a luthier and repair technician. It all started in 1991 when a frien...
Ken Donnell is often regarded as the foremost authority on close-mic applications for stringed instruments. While he has an extensive background across the music products industry, first ...
Salani, whose African name is Wamkanganise Nagaadza, feels very strongly about the role musical instruments play in honoring our ancestors. The Mbira, which he builds and plays speaks to...
Earnie Bailey was mesmerized as a kid, sitting in the front row of an Earth, Wind & Fire concert and seeing all the instruments up close! This experience inspired him to go to the lib...
Tim Olsen set out to build his own guitar out of a cigar box and other items found around the house. He was in the fifth grade at the time! He learned that the luthier Harvey Thomas lived...
Deb Olsen provided her views on just how the Guild of American Luthiers began during her NAMM Oral History interview. Her insight offered a wonderful background into the early idea by JR ...
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...
David Millard was a teenager when he first walked into Folk Music Center, his local musical instrument store in Claremont, California. The now iconic retailer was a true mom-and-pop opera...
Henry Barnes is a wonderful example of the type of luthier and repair technician you want working on your musical instruments. With a background in building guitars for Charvel, Grover Ja...
Roberto Giannini is part of the third generation running Giannini Musical Instruments alongside his brother, Flavio. Their company has thrived on being innovative and working around issue...
Flavio Giannini is part of the third generation running Giannini Musical Instruments alongside his brother, Roberto. One of their most well-known designs is the Craviola, which is designe...
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...
Cyril Maillot joined the SAVAREZ String Company in 1994 with a focus on updating the company’s computer system. He has held several positions over the years but now as CEO his main focus ...
Lloyd Baggs began his journey in music in forth grade as a cellist. After playing in youth symphonies he landed in the UCLA symphony while still in high school. Lloyd graduated from colle...
Tony Louscher saw Jimi Hendrix live at the San Diego Sports Arena in 1970, which became an inspirational event in forming his musical passion. Just a few years later, Tony began working a...
Ewald Hannabach can recall nearly every detail about the life of the luthiers in the famous music corner in the Egerland, which served as the center of production of stringed instruments ...
Gerhard Klier’s grandfather, Anton Schrötter, owned a violin shop and workshop in Cheb/Eger. In the 1920s several of Gerhard’s relatives moved to the United States. His uncle, Roman Klier...
Roland Wilfer is a fourth generation master luthier of the Emanuel Wilfer Double Bass Master Workshop. The workshop was founded 1905 and is specialized in crafting fine double basses for ...
Hans Herb was a student at the school for instrument manufacturing in Bubenreuth. After completing his studies, he worked at Hoyer and Grüner, as well as Höfner before opening his own wor...
Thomas Hoyer is the product manager of string instruments and worldwide distribution for Paesold and Höfner. After receiving his master degree in violin making in 1998, he started in the ...
Dr. Susanne Schnitzer shares her memories growing up in the Kirschnek family. Grandfather Franz Krischnek, founder of Kirschnek String Instruments, was a businessman with worldwide connec...
Ilse Fischer delivered orders for Kirschnek on her scooter to the luthiers of the music town of Schönbach/Luby. Her father, Franz Kirschnek, established the company which specializes in e...
Karl Hoyer was born in Schönbach/Luby in the Czech Republic to a family of violin makers. As a child, he helped in his father’s workshop, and in 1944, went to the school of violin making ...
Günter Lobe is a violin maker who is known for his faithful copies of Stradivari and other famous violins. He was an apprentice from 1977 to 1980 in the Ernst Heinrich Roth workshop in Bu...
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...
Hagen Weise was born in Dresden. He shares his experience of his apprenticeship at Musima in a state run production in East Germany before 1989. Per day, four-hundred classical guitars we...
Hans Dörner grew up in the music town of Schönbach/Luby surrounded by musical instrument makers - including his grandfather the violin maker and tonewood dealer Joseph Trasny and his uncl...
Tim Shaw is the Chief Engineer-Guitars for Fender Musical Instruments, helping the company create guitars, pickups and other products. Tim’s career began when Charlie Wicks hired him to r...
Jens Ritter is the innovative luthier who gained wide attention after a three page article about his instruments ran in a 1996 issue of Guitar & Bass magazine. A few years later, he a...
Moze Mossay was given a guitar as a gift from his father when he was a kid and he fell in love with the instrument. Moze sought to understand all elements of the guitar and soon found him...
Wilhelm Mönnig, his brother Friedrich, and cousin first removed Klaus are owners of Gebrüder Mönnig which produce high quality woodwind instruments in Markneukirchen. Their grandfathers, ...
