Dusty Wheeler served as a medic in the US Air Force during the Vietnam War. After the war he attended college all the while playing guitar and giving lessons. In 1979 he opened Dusty’s Gu...
Larry Wexer was the first member of his family to be born in America and was always encouraged to learn music by his grandparents. After growing up during the folk movement in New York, h...
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...
Frank Murphy opened Frailers Guitar & Banjo Shop, which is situated in Runcorn, Cheshire on the banks of the River Mersey - just southeast of Liverpool England. The store was establis...
David Davidson’s uncle, Bill Nimmo, was a professional drummer who opened a small music store on Long Island, New York in 1966. David was exposed to all sorts of instruments at an early a...
Guy DeVillez has always had a passion for music. At age 12, Guy started playing guitar and would collect odd guitar picks that he found here and there. He found colorful and unusual picks...
Fred Oster was encouraged by his cousin to play the guitar as a youngster, which quickly expanded to include playing the mandolin and the five string banjo. By the time Fred was playing b...
Deke Dickerson began his musical career when he started playing the saxophone, but quickly realized he was much more adept at playing the guitar. As a part of the affectionately named “68...
David Kalt remembers, with a smile, the Fender Stratocaster he dreamed of as a kid. He also recalls that great day in 1985 when he finally got a 1970s Strat! The instrument has a special ...
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...
Steve Fulton was born in California but quickly made his way to Austin to perform in bands all over town. Although he was originally a drummer, he was struck by the aura of the guitar and...
Eric Schoenberg opened his own guitar shop in Tiburon, California after working music retail on the east coast for decades. Over the years he watched the vintage guitar market grow and de...
Michael Simmons is a co-founder of the Fretboard Journal and the author of several articles and books about vintage guitars and other fretted instruments. He began his career at Gryphon G...
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...
Tom Wittrock remembers the very moment he decided to dedicate his career to the guitar: when he purchased his first Les Paul sunburst in the mid-1970s. Many of his friends thought he was...
Ed Seelig opened a small guitar shop when he was a teenager, having already made connections within the concert circuit selling used gear to traveling musicians. The store, Silver String...
Richard Gellis remembers the early days of the vintage guitar movement when greater value was being placed on "used instruments." As his small store grew in Santa Cruz, California, so di...
Fat Dog is the founder of Subway Guitars in Berkeley, California. Since the 1960s, the store has become a hub for musicians to gather to discuss everything from politics and human rights...
Bill Paige is one of the six founders of Heritage Guitars! The idea to start Heritage Guitar began when the Gibson Guitar Corporation closed its Kalamazoo, Michigan factory in September ...
Greg Golden was in the vintage guitar business back in the days when such instruments were referred to as simply “used.” Along with a handful of key dealers across the United States, Greg...
Harry West was the founder of Fine Musical Instruments located in Statesville, North Carolina. The store was an early pioneer in vintage stringed instrument sales and in fact, Stanley Ja...
Thomas Weilbier is the President of No. 1 Guitar Center GmbH, which is located in the musical hub of Hamburg, Germany. Thomas related some of the strong rock and roll history of the city...
Art Wiggs has always admired the Gretsch brand of guitars. He grew up in a musical family, as his parents played in church and on the radio together. As a kid he played the guitar with ...
Stanley Werbin opened a small guitar shop he named Elderly Instruments on July 5, 1972. The original location was in East Lansing, Michigan and focused on "used instruments". Within a fe...
Jim Lehmann is the founder of Guitar Resurrection in Austin, Texas, known to its many customers as Guitar Rez! Jim played guitar in several local bands when he noticed the need, for himse...
Steve Soest played in several local rock bands and studied hard on the makes of electric guitars and amps, an expertise that came in handy around 1972 when he began repairing musical inst...
Ed Roman opened a guitar store in Las Vegas after a successful career in the motorcycle industry. What he learned about that business and the customer base he found, he could easily apply...
Paul Chandler discovered a specialized market within the music industry as a result of being a rock and roll performer and loving vintage guitars. Over the years, Paul found that he had t...
Mike Ladd was one of the first music retailers in the United States to provide custom-made guitars. He had three locations in Memphis, the last of which was right across the street from G...
Gary Kramer broke into the music products industry, with partner Travis Bean, when they unveiled the innovative all aluminum guitar neck design in the early 1970’s. With his entrepreneur...
Lynn Wheelwright has always been fascinated with the guitar, especially the craft of building the instrument. After performing as a teenager, he developed many of his luthier skills from...
Robert Bromberg has had a long career in the music products industry, as did his father. In fact, his father designed the mirror piano, which helped keep the industry alive during World W...
