Hideo Kamimoto

Hideo Kamimoto quite literally wrote the book on guitar repair. After building his first guitar in the late 1950s, he discovered a lifelong passion for luthiery while studying in college and working part-time in a guitar shop during the folk and bluegrass boom. In 1962, he joined the J.L. Ash Violin Shop in Oakland, California, where he gained invaluable experience addressing common instrument repair challenges. By 1967, he opened Kamimoto String Instruments in Oakland, offering repairs, sales, and lessons, later relocating to San Jose. Encouraged by music retailer Stu Goldberg, Kamimoto authored The Complete Guitar Repair in 1974, one of the first books of its kind and a lasting resource for generations of technicians. Even after retiring in 2004, he continued his work, developing innovative solutions such as the “Wolf Eliminator” (also known as the “Wolf Terminator”) to address unwanted wolf tones in string instruments. His contributions remain foundational to the craft of instrument repair.