Guitars
Larry Moudy sang and played the guitar for the musical group Up With People beginning in 1967. After being drafted and serving in the Vietnam War with the 101st Airborne, Larry returned to the group to sing, play, and help manage the tours. In 1975, he was hired by Fender back in the CBS days and...
Larry Barnes recalls his early childhood growing up in his father's music store in Leavenworth, Kansas just outside of Kansas City. The store, which was known as the Leavenworth Music Store, opened in 1955, closed when his dad retired in 1985, and never had a phone! The family home was right next...
Jack Schwarz is the founder of Desert Sons Musical Instruments based in Phoenix, Arizona. The company specializes in custom guitars from a small group of luthiers, all of whom Jack, himself, helped train. As a luthier, Jack worked for Fender, beginning in 1982. He was one of the first employees at...
Bill Pitman was a first call studio musician in Los Angles who played on a string of hit records and award winning motion pictures. As a member of the Wrecking Crew he played on the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds album as well as hundreds of top 40 hits beginning in the late 1950s. Bill's ukulele can be...
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 develop. He also designed his own line of Schoenberg Guitars beginning in the 1980s. The folk craze of the late...
Lowell Levinger, known as Banana, was a founding member of the Youngbloods back in the late 1960s. The band had a series of hit records including the 60s anthem “Get Together.” Banana played lead guitar, piano, finger cymbals, pedal steel guitar, and sang with the band from 1965 until 1972. He...
Bernie Williams is the former professional baseball player whose passion for music making led him to a role as a music advocate. Being a musician since he was a kid, Bernie perused a successful career as a baseball player for 16 years before gaining his degree in music at the Manhattan School of...
Stu Cohen grew up playing the clarinet, and took lessons for close to eight years. In the early 1950s, Stu listened mostly to country music on the radio, just because it was the only station that his radio would pick up. When he was in college, Stu got into country music even more, and started...
Billy Klein is a co-founder of Hybrid Studios in Santa Ana, California. He got into the music industry the way most of us do - playing in a band and experimenting with recording. He then went on to receive a recording arts degree from Loyola Marymount University, as well as various internships...
Thomas Nordegg is originally from Vienna, Austria, and when he heard The Beatles for the first time, he knew that he wanted to be in the music industry. In 1972, Thomas moved to the United States and worked as a guitar tech. Since then, he has worked for legendary artists such as Frank Zappa,...