William Lewis & Sons

Harry Benson became the president of William Lewis & Son when the company was under the ownership of Chicago Musical Instrument (CMI). Harry’s guiding principles resulted in the expansion of the violin line and the respect of fellow violin makers such as Kurt Glaesel. Harry was also the one-time boss of another industry veteran and strong supporter of this archive collection, Robert S. Johnson.

Arnold Berlin was a one-time president of Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) and co-founder of Norlin Music Corp. He is also Mr. M.H. Berlin’s son, one of the true icons of the industry. Arnie spoke of how his father got started in the industry as well as how he was able to grow the company into one of the major players within the music products industry. Arnie also spoke of his own career, which began in the late 1950s.

Ken Dattmore was the Marketing Manager for Yamaha’s strings department, a role that reflected his lifelong passion for the music products industry. He began his career with the William Lewis & Son Company, which helped place violins into the hands of thousands of young music students around the world. Ken later operated his own company, Pegasus Strings, before joining Yamaha. During his time there, he played a key role in the growth and recognition of the electric violin, which earned a Best in Show honor at the 2016 NAMM Show—a moment of great pride for him.

Robert Johnson served as a sales manager for Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) when the company first acquired the noted violinmakers William Lewis & Son. As a salesman, he worked closely with Harry Benson, who was also interviewed for the NAMM Oral History program thanks to Robert. William Lewis established a small shop and later expanded it in 1898 to include his son in the business. The company was sold to CMI in the 1960s and was sold to the On-Site Music Group in the 1980s.  By the 1990s, it was sold to Steinway and Sons who made it a division of the Gemeinhardt Company u

Roberto Tirado began working in the music industry with William Lewis & Son, the famed violin company out of Chicago.  After studying building and repairs he was given the opportunity to head the string instrument line for Gemeinhardt in Elkhart, Indiana.  For years Roberto has worked to improve the Artisan String lines for Gemeinhardt both in quality of sound and playability.