The Beatles
Joe Cardinale played jazz bass in clubs and theaters all around New England. He created his own trio and studied at what would be Berklee College of Music. He joined the wholesaler Harris-Fandel in the pre-Beatles era and witnessed first hand the impact the British Invasion had on the industry....
Mirek Jaromir Strizka opened a musical wholesale business in the early 1960s and named it European Craft. The company began as the young Czech immigrant established a business in Los Angeles, California, selling one instrument, the harmonica. He wore out his car traveling the country and...
Brooke Ludwig Crowden remembers her grandfather, William F. Ludwig, working around the factory inspecting drums and insisting on a quality product. She remembers the day her father, William F. Ludwig II, took her to meet the Beatles on the occasion of her father presenting Ringo Starr with a...
TK Keckler moved to Memphis at an early age and began playing with local bands, which is when he met Mike Ladd. Mike was a musician who opened a small guitar shop in town and would later become a strong force in the electric guitar movement of the 1970s, including the reissue of the Gibson Le Paul...
Larry Peyser spent most of his career in the music wholesale business. Larry’s sister married Abbott Buegelesien after World War II and over the years Larry did not just work for the company, he learned much of its early history. Abbott’s father, Sam, formed the historic music wholesaler,...
Christian Benker has been an influential leader in the German musical instrument manufacturing industry. With fresh ideas and marketing skills he helped Hofner reinvent itself during the 1950s and 60s. Christian worked alongside Mr. Hofner, the inventor of the widely popular Beatle bass and Mr....
Gerhilde Benker served as president of Hofner Music, a firm founded by her grandfather Karl Hofner in 1864 in Eger, Germany. Her father, Walter, was the inventor of the Hofner bass, which has been known as the Beatle Bass ever since young Paul McCartney began playing the instrument. The endorsement...
Rudi Metzler watched the Beatles on TV in his home in Germany and wanted to be the next Ringo Starr. He earned money washing cars, taking over a year to earn enough for his first drum kit. After playing in several bands he thought the future for him would be in selling instruments so he began...
Bob Seidman was born a salesman! Bob knew he loved selling before he was a teenager. One of his early jobs was selling women’s undergarments, but soon his attention turned to musical instruments in the early days of rock and roll. He worked for the jobber Lipsky before opening his own wholesale...
Peter Schmitt was not around when his family started a small retail store 110 years ago, but was proud of the role he has played in the expansion of the business into a wholesale business. His son Mike later took over as President of Peter E. Schmitt Music in New Jersey. His son Mike was...