Guild Guitar
Jerre Haskew was right in the thick of the folk music boom of the early 1960s. He was a founding member of the Cumberland Trio, which recorded with Chet Atkins at RCA Nashville and toured extensively. After the folk boom waned, Jerre began a long and successful career in banking and venture capital...
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 repair guitars for his retail store. He found his way to R&D at Gibson in Kalamazoo in 1978 and worked with...
John Egan was working for Ford Motor Company when his old friend and former colleague, Peter Hayward called him. Peter had formed a music wholesale company, which was expanding by the late 1970s and John joined the company as it brought on several key product lines including Ernie Ball Strings,...
Dave Bray began working in the music industry when he joined the Billy Hyde team in the 1970s. Hyde had a strong drum shop at the time and was just expanding into wholesaling, thanks in large part to Billy's son, Garry. Dave helped in the early days of the wholesale division of Billy Hyde’s, which...
Bob Boss was encouraged to pick up an instrument at a young age by both of his parents and quickly gravitated towards the guitar when he received his first electric guitar; a Sears SIlvertone for just $30. Bob decided to leave his guitar behind when he left for college, but quickly found that he...
Tommy Roe wrote most of the hit songs for which he is best known, such as "Dizzy," "Sheila," "Everybody" and "Sweet Pea." Each were hit songs in the 1960s and were part of the early days of his career, which included a tour with the Beatles in 1963. Tommy later formed a music publishing company and...
Rich Covas owned Modern Music store's three locations for thirteen years beginning in 1966. The locations covered band and orchestra instruments as well as guitar, keyboards, and drums. The company also offered music lessons and repair. In fact, providing lessons is how Rich first began working in...
David Magagna had an incredible career selling guitars for some of the biggest names in the industry. He worked for the government out of high school and attended college in Georgetown before coming into the music industry by way of the C.F. Martin & Company. The year was 1962. David became...
Mark Dronge was the President of DR Strings and a veteran of the music products industry, having been involved since he was four years old in his father’s retail store! Mark recalled the accordion boom of the 1940s in his father’s store, which was sold in 1948. The money his father made in...
Charlie Gracie was an early Rockabilly performer who recorded three charted songs in 1957, right in the heart of the golden era of rock and roll. His biggest tune "Butterfly" was followed by several other hits over his career including "Fabulous." Since the beginning of his career, Charlie has...